Stocks steady for week as investors track debate
BY Wire reports
Saturday, December 01, 2012
12/01/12 at 5:26 AM
Stocks ended the week more or less where they started it as investors watched lawmakers in Washington try to work out a budget agreement.
After inching 3.76 points higher Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at 13,025.58. That's a gain of 16 points for the week.
The Standard and Poor's index rose 0.23 point Friday to finish at 1,416.25, and the Nasdaq composite fell 1.79 points to 3,010.24.
For the year, the Dow is up 6.6 percent, the S&P 500 is up 12.6 percent and the Nasdaq is up 15.6 percent.
The main driver for markets has been the partisan talks over a series of sharp government spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to start Jan. 1 unless an agreement is reached to cut the budget deficit. A possible recession looms if no agreement is reached.
Optimism that a deal will be done has been greeted with market rallies, while sell-offs have followed pessimistic comments from lawmakers.
