Wall Street closed another difficult session lower but well above its worst losses today after a late-day rebound in financial shares lifted many other stock sectors. Investors still kept their distance from technology shares after a lackluster forecast from Cisco Systems Inc.

Stocks extended the previous day’s steep losses after the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, warned that a raft of economic troubles could dent business growth and after Cisco’s comments touched off unease about business spending. But buyers moved back in late in the session, apparently thinking the market’s selloff had been overdone even with the host of concerns investors face, observers said.

Mr. Bernanke, appearing before Congress’ Joint Economic Committee with the Fed’s economic forecast, warned of threats to the economy but didn’t offer solid evidence the bank is prepared to further cut interest rates.

The slide seen during much of the session — at one point the Dow had fallen another 200 points — came a day after stocks tumbled amid concerns about continuing credit woes, a weakening dollar, and rising oil prices.

Investors also had fresh reason for concern about toxicity within the credit markets. Morgan Stanley issued a detailed accounting of its exposure to subprime debt, pleasing investors by eliminating some of the uncertainty that has wracked Wall Street to varying degrees in recent months. But Morgan said late yesterday its fourth-quarter profit could be reduced by $2.5 billion in write-downs related to troubles in the credit market, a reminder of the widespread damage from soured loans.

“The market gets oversold regardless of the fundamentals,” a chief investment officer of Portfolio Management Consultants, Brandon Thomas, said.

“What the market does is it steps back and says ‘Are we becoming oversold here even on a short-term basis?’ I think there’s been a lot of bottom fishing,” he said.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 33.73, or 0.25%, to 13,266.29. The decline comes a day after the blue chips fell 360.92. Yesterday’s decline was the third drop of more than 350 points in a month, offering the latest sign of how jittery many investors remain.

Broader stock indicators also came off their lows. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.85, or 0.06%, to 1,474.77, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq fell 52.76, or 1.92%, to 2,696.00.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by more than 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a heavy 2.17 billion shares compared with 1.66 billion traded yesterday.

Government bonds rose as stocks retreated. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 4.27% from 4.30% late yesterday.