NEW YORK — On Monday, the stock market was as choppy as the "fiscal cliff" deal-making that has been yanking it around.
U.S. stocks struggled for direction on the last day of the year, with the "fiscal cliff" just hours away and Republicans and Democrats yet to hammer out a budget deal.
The Dow Jones industrial average opened lower, with investors disappointed that politicians hadn't reached an agreement over a weekend of terse, stop-and-go negotiating. With no clarity on whether a deal would get done, and what it would look like if it did, the Dow spent the morning flitting between small gains and losses.
