Article updated: 12/27/2012 4:03 PM

Stocks fluctuate thanks to 'fiscal cliff'

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In this Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, photo, Daniel Kryger, left, and Kevin Lodewick Jr., right, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York. Stocks are edging higher on Thursday as hopes dim that a budget deal will be reached before a deadline at the end of the year.

Associated Press

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The "fiscal cliff" took the stock market on a roller coaster Thursday. Small developments in the tense budget standoff yanked stocks back and forth throughout the day. In the end, U.S. stocks closed lower for the fourth day in a row, sending the unwelcome message that the budget standoff is still far from solved, the economy still far from healed.