US stocks dipped yesterday amid ongoing investor uncertainty as President Barack Obama headed back to Washington to try to secure a year-end ‘fiscal cliff’ deal with Republican lawmakers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 16.14 points (0.12 per cent) in late morning trade.

The broad-market S&P 500 lost 4.81 points (0.34 per cent) to 1,421.85, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite shed 16.19 points (0.54 per cent) to 2,996.41.

“The action through Friday will be heavily influenced by news on the fiscal cliff negotiations. Underlying that will be support from the traditional year-end bullish bias,” said Briefing.com’s Dick Green.

The White House and Congress have until the end of the month to reach a compromise on how to avert a year-end fiscal crisis that could lead to stiff tax hikes and drastic budget cuts. Experts say a plunge over the so-called “fiscal cliff” could take the world’s biggest economy back into recession.

Obama was to head back to the capital late yesterday from Hawaii, and lawmakers are also expected back in Washington today.

On Christmas Eve, the Dow was down 0.39 per cent, while the S&P 500 lost 0.24 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.28 per cent.

Stocks in focus yesterday included online video Netflix, which edged 0.1 per cent higher in the wake of a service interruption.

US commodities and derivatives market InterContinentalExchange (ICE) and its transatlantic peer NYSE Euronext were up 0.3 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively, after at least one shareholder complaint was filed to contest their planned fusion announced last week.

Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion were up 6.7 per cent, recovering after a plunge on Friday on investor fears that its new smartphone platform will thin the ranks paying for its service.

Monday’s bond prices rose. The 10-year US Treasury yield slipped to 1.76 from 1.77 per cent late Monday, while the 30-year dipped to 2.93 from 2.94 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.