US stocks closed slightly lower Tuesday as Washington continued to wrangle over a budget plan that would avoid the year-end \"fiscal cliff.\" The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 14.05 points (0.11 percent) at 12,951.55 in closing trade. The broad-market S&P 500 dipped 2.54 points (0.18 percent) to 1,406.92 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite fell 5.51 (0.18 percent) to 2,996.69.