On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.


On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
(Richard Drew / Associated Press)




































































Stocks continued their slide in a shortened Christmas Eve trading session as hope dimmed that Washington would fix the fiscal cliff before year's end.


The Dow Jones industrial average was down 38 points, or 0.3%, to 13,152 shortly after the opening bell on Wall Street. Volumes were expected to be light in the holiday session.


The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 4 points, or 0.3%, to 1,426. The technology-heavy Nasdaq was down 9 points, or 0.3%, to 3,012.





After Speaker John Boehner's "Plan B" flopped in the U.S. House, investors have become more pessimistic about the chances that Congress and President Obama would resolve the so-called fiscal cliff by Dec. 31.


Major U.S. indexes fell about 1% Friday. Economists warn that automatic spending cuts and tax increases could push the U.S. economy back into a recession.


U.S. markets will close at 10 a.m. PDT on Monday.


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