New York stocks ended slightly lower Tuesday on investors' concern over earnings of Citigroup.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 125.21 points Monday, lost another 25.41 points to 8,448.56, for five consecutive trading days of decline. The Dow lost about 560 points during the period.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index, a 32.80 point loser, edged up 7.67 points to 1,546.46.

Buying exceeded selling at the outset of the day's trading in response to remarks in London by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke in support of additional steps to help stabilize the shaky U.S. financial sector.

In a speech, Bernanke said President-elect Barack Obama's proposed economic stimulus package could shore up the flagging economy but additional steps may be also needed to revive faltering U.S. financial institutions.

Buying appetite, however, soon lost steam and the Dow Jones index skidded lower as investors became pessimistic about corporate earnings ahead of the scheduled release next week of quarterly earnings of Citigroup. Investors are bracing for gloomy results from Citigroup.

But toward the close, stocks regained part of the lost ground as investors were heartened by a news report that Citigroup has agreed to sell its Smith Barney brokerage unit to Morgan Stanley's brokerage operations, market analysts said.