Tough day on Wall Street

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks ended little changed, after a choppy session in which investors struggled to find a new catalyst after last week's big run up.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 4.57 to 12,666.31, Charts), the broader S&P 500 (up 1.01 to 1,448.00, Charts) index and the Nasdaq (up 0.89 to 2,471.49, Charts) composite all ended just above unchanged.

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All three major gauges had slipped through the early afternoon, with the Nasdaq down the most, ahead of comments from several Fed officials. But the declines were modest and as such, eased up as the afternoon wore on.

Afternoon comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Chicago Fed president Michael Moskow did not address current economic policy and therefore had little impact on the direction of stocks.

After last week's big rally, investors have been struggling a bit this week, particularly with few economic reports due and the majority of the earnings reports already out.

After the close, Cisco Systems (Charts) reported higher quarterly sales and earnings that topped forecasts. Shares inched higher in extended-hours trading.

"Cisco had very good numbers and the stock is spiking, so we should see a good open Wednesday," said Timothy Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management.

In addition to Cisco, Ghriskey said stocks will likely also gain support over the short term from the rise in bond prices and decline in corresponding yields Tuesday, following a successful 3-year bond auction.

Treasury prices rose, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.76 percent from 4.80 percent late Monday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The bond market sold off between late November and late January on bets that the Federal Reserve might raise rates this year. Now that the Fed appears to be on the sidelines, that has allowed bond prices to turn around a bit, Ghriskey said.

"If the bond market is heading toward a more normalized view, that will be helpful for stocks," he said.

Wednesday brings the reading on fourth-quarter productivity and the weekly oil inventories report.

The direction of oil prices is also expected to give the market some direction in the next few days.

"You had oil getting up closer to $60 a barrel earlier and that was making people a bit nervous, so that's something to keep an eye on," said Tom Schrader, managing director of U.S. listed trading at Legg Mason.

Crude oil for March delivery rose 14 cents to settle at $58.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Fed Chairman Bernanke, speaking before the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, discussed the history and implications of economic and wage inequality. The speech did not address the current current state of the economy or interest rates and was something of a relief to investors.

The same was true for a speech from Chicago Fed president Michael Moskow, who discussed economic development in the Illinois region and did not address current policy.

San Francisco Fed president Janet Yellen spoke later in the session, saying the economy is on very solid turf, with the exception of the auto and housing sectors.

Investors also took in comments from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who told Congress that the economy is slowing to a steady growth rate, providing the government a window for reforming Medicare and Social Security.

Paulson's comments Tuesday were part of a broader discussion on President Bush's proposed $2.9 billion budget for the year, announced Monday.

In currency trading, the dollar slipped against the yen after briefly spiking higher on Paulson's comments about the Japanese currency. He said there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the yen's weakness and that Japanese officials haven't been interfering to keep the yen near 20-year lows.

The dollar also slid versus the euro.

COMEX gold for March delivery rose $2.60 to settle at $658.70 an ounce.

In corporate news, National Semiconductor (down $0.64 to $22.68, Charts) warned late Monday that revenue in its fiscal third quarter will fall more substantially from the second quarter than previously thought, due to slower shipments. Shares dropped about 2.7 percent, recovering from bigger declines earlier in the session.

Other big tech decliners included Sun Microsystems (down $0.11 to $6.53, Charts), Rambus (down $1.20 to $22.30, Charts) and Dell (down $0.25 to $23.65, Charts).

But that was countered by strength in Internet stocks including eBay (up $0.60 to $32.85, Charts) and Yahoo! (up $0.79 to $29.35, Charts)

In merger news, mortgage insurance company MGIC Investment (up $7.16 to $70.09, Charts) said it is buying rival Radian Group (up $5.67 to $66.51, Charts) in a $4.9 billion stock swap.

Private-equity group Blackstone boosted its offer for Equity Office Properties (up $0.59 to $56.05, Charts) to $23 billion, bringing its bid to just below the counter offer made by Vornado Realty Trust (up $1.90 to $127.00, Charts).

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers by nearly two to one on volume of 1.47 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers edged decliners 8 to 7 on volume of 2.15 billion shares.

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