Stocks edged lower Monday after a surprisingly weak manufacturing report heightened concern that the fiscal deadlock in Washington is already hurting the economy. U.S. manufacturing shrank in November to its weakest level since July 2009, according to the Institute for Supply Management. Businesses expressed concern about the "fiscal cliff."
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 59.98 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 12,965.60.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 6.72 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 1,409.46.
The Nasdaq composite fell 8.04 points, or 0.3 percent, to 3,002.20.
For the year:
The Dow is up 748.04, or 6.1 percent.
The S&P 500 is up 151.86, or 12.1 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 397.05, or 15.2 percent.
