NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 were both down less than 0.1%. The Nasdaq was flat.
Stocks rebounded Tuesday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke signaled the central bank's easy money policies will remain in force. That came a day after the Dow and S&P 500 suffered their worst one-day declines of the year.
The tone was more subdued Wednesday as investors responded to a report on new orders for long-lasting goods and a successful bond auction by the shaky Italian government.
The U.S. Census Bureau said durable goods orders dropped $11.8 billion, or 5.2%, in January. This was a steeper decline that the decrease of 3.5% projected by a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
The Dreamliner issues with Boeing (BA, Fortune 500) and the drying up of defense spending appear to have played a role. Excluding transportation, new orders would have increased 1.9%.
Overall, the durable goods data were "far better than the headline decline suggests," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.
Meanwhile, a bond auction in Italy drew solid demand for €6.5 billion worth of medium and long-term debt. That helped push European markets higher.
Italy has been a concern for investors since elections over the weekend raised concerns about the government's commitment to economic reforms.
In Washington, Bernanke will be back on Capital Hill to give testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.
Investors will pay close attention to Q&A portion of the testimony, since Bernanke's written testimony is verbatim to what he delivered Tuesday, notes Marc Chandler of Brown Brothers Harriman.
On Tuesday, Bernanke urged lawmakers to prevent $85 billion in automatic spending cuts set to take effect Friday under the so-called budget sequester. He said the cuts would be a "significant" burden to the already tepid economy.
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In the U.S., investors are likely to be more focused on Apple's (APPL) annual shareholders meeting.
Firms including retailer TJX (TJX, Fortune 500) are scheduled to report quarterly results in the morning, while Sturm Ruger (RGR),Groupon (GRPN) andJ.C. Penney (JCP, Fortune 500) are up after the bell.
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Shares of Priceline (PCLN) rose after the online travel site beat profit forecasts.
First Solar (FSLR) shares sank sharply after the renewable energy firm missed sales forecasts.
Related: Defense stocks in the crosshairs
Asian markets ended mixed. Japan's Nikkei lost 1.3%, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.9% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng increased 0.2%. 
First Published: February 27, 2013: 9:38 AM ET
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