NEW YORK (AP) - A rally in stocks on Wall Street mostly evaporated after investors didn't hear what they wanted to hear from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 46 points Thursday at 12,461. The Dow had been up as much as 140 but lost ground after Bernanke gave no sign the Fed would help the economy in the immediate future despite signs of a slowdown.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed down less than one point at 1,315, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 14 points to 2,831.
Earlier, stocks rose after China cut its benchmark lending rate for the first time in nearly four years.
Losing stocks slightly outpaced gainers in the United States. Volume was about average at 4 billion shares.