NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are edging down in midday trading on Wall Street as lawmakers seek to thrash out a budget agreement.
The government also reported Friday that consumer spending fell in October.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 26 points to 12,995 shortly before noon Eastern. The Standard and Poor's 500 fell four points to 1,412. The Nasdaq composite was down nine points to 3,003.
Stocks are nearly flat for the week after being whipsawed by headlines from Washington about the budget negotiations.
Online game maker Zynga plunged after saying it was loosening its relationship with Facebook.
VeriSign fell sharply after the company said it won't be allowed under its new contract to raise prices for reserving Internet domain names without government approval.
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