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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - President Barack Obama said Monday that a deal to avert the fiscal cliff was close. "It appears an agreement to prevent this new year's tax hike is within sight but not done," Obama said in a short speech to supporters at the White House. Obama said the potential deal would raise taxes only on the wealthiest Americans and would extend popular tax credits for college education and clean energy. It would also extend unemployment benefits, he said. The deal is not finished because of negotiations over the $100 billion in automatic spending cuts that were set to begin on Jan.1. Obama said the scheduled cuts were too blunt. "We're using an axe instead of a scalpel," he said. Obama said higher taxes had to be part of any deal to stop the spending

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