U.S. Stocks Close Little Changed After House Passes Budget Dea

Bloomberg (14/12) -- U.S. stocks were little changed, capping the worst week for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since August, with losses in oil producers and phone shares offsetting gains after the House of Representatives passed a budget deal.The S&P 500 fell less than 0.1 percent to 1,775.32 at 4 p.m. in New York. The equity benchmark has fallen 1.7 percent this week, the biggest decline since August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 15.93 points, or 0.1 percent, to 15,755.36 today.The S&P 500 has surged 24 percent this year, putting it on course for the biggest annual gain since 2003, as the Fed continued to buy assets. Three rounds of monetary stimulus -- or quantitative easing -- from the central bank have helped propel the index to a 162 percent rally from a 12-year low in 2009.The House passed a budget late yesterday that limits automatic spending cuts and avoids another government shutdown. The deal protects entitlement programs favored by the Democrats and corporate tax breaks that Republicans have demanded. Almost equal numbers of lawmakers from both political parties voted for the compromise. The Senate needs to approve the legislation and President Barack Obama has to sign it.