Stocks end mixed in light trading

Stocks closed mixed Wednesday after the head of the Federal Reserve said unemployment may remain high for several years. The Dow Jones industrial average eked out its eighth straight day of gains, extending its longest advancing streak in nearly a year.
Major indexes traded lower for much of the day after Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, told members of the House of Representatives that the economy is strengthening but that companies haven’t yet stepped up hiring. Last week, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent in January.
Republicans on the House Budget Committee focused their questions for Bernanke on deficit spending and their fears that Fed policy would cause inflation. Bernanke didn’t bite on the inflation concerns, but he and the committee chairman, Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, agreed that Congress and the White House must have a plan to reduce the government’s $1 trillion-plus deficits.
Bond prices rose following Bernanke’s testimony, reversing a slump that had pushed yields up to their highest levels since April. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite to its price, fell to 3.65 from 3.74 late Tuesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 6.74 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,239.89. The Dow has had only one down day in the last 11, on Jan. 28 when the protests in Egypt escalated. It last finished with eight straight days of gains in March 2010.
After four days of gains, the Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 3.69 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,320.88.
The Nasdaq composite lost 7.98, or 0.3 percent, to 2,789.07.
Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to 960 million shares.