By Steven C. Johnson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 barely budged on Wednesday as investors' uncertainty about when Congress might approve a proposed $700 billion bailout for the financial sector offset news of Warren Buffett's $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs.
The Nasdaq held most of its earlier gains as technology stocks advanced on hopes that the bailout plan would boost tech spending.
Worries that congressional wrangling could delay or weaken the Bush administration's plan to mop up bad mortgage debt from banks' balance sheets kept a hold on investors, leading the blue-chip Dow industrials and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 to trim earlier gains.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged Congress' Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday to pass the bailout quickly, warning delay would keep lenders reluctant to extend credit to households and businesses, further weakening the U.S. economy.
"I don't think anyone anticipates the plan won't be passed, but there are concerns about its details and what the ultimate impact will be," said Stephen Massocca, co-chief executive of Pacific Growth Equities, in San Francisco.
Shares of Goldman Sachs climbed 6 percent to $132.55 on the New York Stock Exchange, while Berkshire Hathaway
Despite the unease about the bailout plan, traders said Buffett's surprising bet on Goldman Sachs was encouraging.
"When Buffett jumps in the pool, others may follow," said Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group in Princeton, New Jersey. "That says to investors that all is not lost."
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 6.06 points, or 0.06 percent, at 10,848.11. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 1.64 points, or 0.14 percent, at 1,189.86. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 16.39 points, or 0.76 percent, at 2,169.72.
The market got a brief lift from reports suggesting the Bush administration might accept curbs on executive pay as a condition for passage of the bailout, as insisted upon by Democrats, but a Treasury Department source told Reuters no such deal had been reached.
Among Nasdaq gainers, software maker Oracle Corp
Economic bellwether Microsoft
The overall sentiment on Wednesday toward financial shares was mixed, with the S&P financial index <.GSPF> down 0.1 percent.
In addition to Goldman, shares of JPMorgan Chase rose 3.5 percent to $41.98, making it a top gainer on the S&P.
But shares of Citigroup
Shares of economic bellwether General Electric
"Whether Buffett has called a bottom, I don't think anyone knows," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. "My bottom line is, yes, financial stocks are as cheap as they've ever been relative to the rest of the market. Problem is, the same was true last October."
(Additional reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; Editing by Jan Paschal)
