NEW YORK -- Stocks staged a rally Monday afternoon on signs a
deal inthe "fiscal cliff" was near, with the Dow Jones
industrial averageclosing up 166 points, or 1.3%.   TheDow
jumped more than 130 points to about 13,068 around 3 p.m. ET
afterSenate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said a deal was near
to avoidraising taxes on most Americans.  U.S. stocks had
struggled formost of the last day of the year, with the "fiscal
cliff" just hoursaway and Republicans and Democrats yet to
hammer out a budget deal.  TheDow opened lower, with investors
disappointed that politicians hadn'treached an agreement over a
weekend of terse, stop-and-go negotiating.With no clarity on
whether a deal would get done, and what it would looklike if it
did, the Dow spent the morning flitting between small gainsand
losses.  TheDow and the other major stock indexes turned higher
at midday after afew signs that a deal was emerging. The
Associated Press and other mediaoutlets reported that both sides
had agreed on a few key points ontaxes a