Stocks Grope for Direction

Updated from 1:51 p.m. EDT

Stocks in the U.S. traded choppily after an upside open Wednesday as investors monitored the government's bailout of the banking industry and more commentary from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently up 8.8 points to 10,863, and the S&P 500 was adding 2.8 points to 1191. The Nasdaq gained 17 points to 2170.

On Tuesday, stocks finished with losses after traders listened to Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry outline for Congress their $700 billion bailout package for financial-services firms.

"I think investors are sitting back and waiting to see what Congress does," said Fred Dickson, director of private client research and chief market strategist for DA Davidson. "Hopefully, we'll see something by the end of the week." While uncertainty remains, the market will trade with a great deal of volatility, he said.

After the close of Tuesday's trading, several financial firms signed deals to raise capital. Insurance giant AIG(AIG Quote) agreed to an $85 billion credit facility with the Fed.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A Quote) inked a deal to buy as much as a $10 billion stake in Goldman Sachs (GS Quote). Goldman, along with rival Morgan Stanley(MS Quote), on Sunday agreed to become a bank holding company instead of an investment bank.

Dickson said he was surprised the market didn't bounce higher off the news of Berkshire's investment in Goldman, especially after a sizeable drop in the major indices during the last hour of Monday's trading.

Berkshire wasn't the only firm that may grab a piece of Goldman. Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui Financial may invest between 100 billion and 300 billion yen in the company, although there are conflicting reports about a potential deal.