NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks fell slightly Wednesday as strong data from the manufacturing sector resurrected investors' fears that the Federal Reserve would raise short-term interest rates higher than Wall Street has anticipated.

With new Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke expected to give his first monetary policy testimony to the House Financial Services Committee later in the session, investors are jittery that he will see recent economic data as a reason to continue the Fed's streak of interest rate hikes.

Federal industrial production numbers showed manufacturing rising in January. Manufacturing data for both December and November's were revised upward and the latest Empire State Manufacturing index, which is a measurement of New York's manufacturing sector and a barometer for the rest of the nation, came in above economists' expectations.

On Tuesday, investors had cheered a surge in retail sales, which, excluding autos, rose by the largest amount in six years. But an economy that is too strong could spark inflation, which, in turn, could motivate the Fed to hike interest rates to cool it down.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 8.24, or 0.08 percent, to 11,020.15 after rising 136 points Tuesday.

Broader stock indicators were slightly lower Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.21, or 0.09 percent, to 1,274.32, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 4.42, or 0.2 percent, to 2,257.75.

Bonds rose, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.60 percent from 4.61 percent late Tuesday. The U.S. dollar was mixed against other major currencies in European trading. Gold prices were higher.

Crude oil futures crept back above $60 a barrel in electronic pre-opening trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Light crude was up 47 cents to $60.04 after it fell $1.67 to settle at $59.57 Tuesday.

Retail brokerage giant Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. rose 31 cents to $75.47 after it agreed to combine its investment-management business with money manager BlackRock Inc. in exchange for a nearly 50 percent stake in BlackRock, the two sides said. The transaction, expected to close in the third quarter, would transform BlackRock into one of the world's top money managers, with an asset base of around $1 trillion. BlackRock rose $9.85 to $155.81.

Wells Fargo & Co. rose 16 cents to $62.81 and Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. rose 12 cents to $41.09 after billionaire investor Warren Buffett's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., disclosed significant holdings in the companies on Tuesday as part of required filings detailing Berkshire's $42.7 billion stock portfolio. The documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that Berkshire has nearly doubled its stake in Wells Fargo since last May when it held 56.4 million shares, and it owned more than 5 percent of both. Berkshire's thinly traded class A shares were unchanged at $88,100 a share.

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