Stocks Ended Down Slightly amid Cliff Talks

Stocks finished slightly lower on Tuesday as the back-and-forth wrangling over the “fiscal cliff” gave investors little reason to act. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 13.82 points, or 0.11%, to 12,951.70. The S&P 500 index shed 2.41 points, or 0.17%, to 1,407.05. The Nasdaq Composite lost 5.51 points, or 0.18%, to 2,996.69.

President Barack Obama says there will be no deal to avert the “fiscal cliff” unless Republicans drop their opposition to raising tax rates on the wealthiest Americans. 

Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE:P) , on Tuesday, reported a fiscal second-quarter loss of $5.4 million, or 3 cents a share, on revenue of $101.3 million, compared with a loss of $1.8 million, or 4 cents a share, on $67 million in sales in the same period a year ago.

Gold futures slumped on Tuesday to end at a one-month low below $1,700 an ounce, with analysts blaming the sharp drop mainly on technical pressure following short-selling in Asia. Gold for February delivery (CNS:GCG3)  fell $25.30, or 1.5%, to settle at $1,695.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, after a low at $1,692.60.