Stocks continued to cut losses on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq Composite up 1 percent briefly after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said he was prepared to take more steps to help the fragile economic recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 112.91 points, or 1.06 percent, at 10,542.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 4.99 points, or 0.45 percent, at 1,094.24. But the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 18.37 points, or 0.79 percent, at 2,354.20.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Ben Bernanke