Another Weak Open on Wall Street; JC Penney Slides

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks are opening mostly lower on Wall Street, extending the market's slide to a third day.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 12 points at 12,798 shortly after the opening bell Friday. That's a more moderate decline than those over the previous two days, which erased 434 points from the average.

Investors have been worried that Washington won't act in time to avoid damaging spending cuts and tax increases by the end of the year. President Barack Obama addresses the issue Friday afternoon from the White House.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell less than a point to 1,377 and the Nasdaq composite edge up half a point to 2,896.

J.C. Penney reported a larger loss than analysts expected. Its stock fell 8 percent.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Material may not be redistributed.