Stocks in New York Off to a Rocky Start

Updated from 9:04 a.m. EST

U.S. stocks traded narrowly mixed following Wednesday's opening bell, as the automakers attempted to secure their future by asking Congress for money, and consumer prices and housing starts showed record declines.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 16 points to 8441, and the S&P 500 was up 2 points to 861. The Nasdaq was down 3 points to 1480.

As trading commenced, companies were still trying salve wounds inflicted by the faltering economy.

After arriving hat in hand on Capitol Hill Tuesday to plead their case for access to federal funding, chief executives of woebegone automakers General Motors (GM Quote), Ford (F Quote) and Chrysler will attempt again Wednesday to exchange a grilling by members of Congress for billions of dollars in government aid. The Big Three have been walloped lately by a combination of flagging sales, troubles in their finance divisions and high labor costs.

As General Motors continued to scrape for cash, German solar firm SolarWorld announced plans to buy assets of GM's German segment, Adam Opel.

The U.S. auto companies weren't the only ones coping with a tough market. Toyota (TM Quote) said it will cut production in North American plants and lay off 250 of its temporary workers.

Boeing (BA Quote), which along with GM is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, is resetting its production schedule as it attempts to recover from a strike by its machinists' union, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, industrial conglomerate and fellow Dow company General Electric (GE Quote) said it would reorganize its GE Capital finance branch to cut costs.