Stocks Mixed at the Opening Bell

Any hope that Wall Street would reflect optimism on an auto bailout today by moving the markets higher quickly disappeared this morning shortly after the opening bell. So far, the markets are hovering between negative and positive territory. After 20 minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average is flat, up 10 points. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index is also flat, up 2 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is slightly negative, down 6 points.

Just before the opening bell this morning, a government report showed that industrial output fell less than expected in November, a sign of the continued weakness in the auto sector. The Federal Reserve reported that industrial activity dropped by .6 percent last month, slightly less than the economists' expectation of a .8 percent decline, the Associated Press reported.

--Sara Goo