BOSTON (AP) — A safe route around the “fiscal cliff” continues to elude Congress and the White House. A recession is possible if automatic tax increases and spending cuts begin to take effect on Jan. 1, and people are afraid. Consumer confidence fell for a second straight month in December.

In such an uncertain environment, stock mutual fund managers acknowledge there’s reason for investors to be unusually cautious in making any short-term moves. But they remain optimistic that there will be significant rewards for staying invested in stocks. They expect the market to climb in 2013, although the gain is likely to be more modest than this year’s 15 percent return in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index through Thursday.