Stocks edge lower as 'fiscal cliff' deadline nears

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks edged lower for a fifth day today on concern that Washington lawmakers will fail to reach a budget deal before a year-end deadline.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 48 points to 13,048 as of 11:10 a.m. Eastern, after dropping as much as 109 points in early trading. The Standard & Poor 500 index fell 5 points to 1,413 and the Nasdaq dropped 5 points to 2,981.

If stocks end the day lower, it will mark the longest losing streak in three months.

President Barack Obama has returned from a Christmas break in Hawaii and will meet with congressional leaders at the White House to try thrash out the terms of a deal that would prevent across-the-board tax increases for millions of Americans as well as simultaneous government spending cuts beginning Jan. 1. Those measures, if implemented, could push the economy back into recession, economists say.

Stocks closed lower Thursday but erased most of an early loss after Republicans said they would reconvene the House of Representatives Sunday in hopes of piecing together a last-minute budget deal.