Wall Street lower ahead of Bernanke testimony US stocks gave up early modest gains and traded lower at mid-morning in New York in a session heavy with mixed earnings reports and economic news. Traders will be watching Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony in front of Congress for any clues as to whether he believes the economic situation warrants further monetary easing. "Bernanke is mostly likely to repeat that another round of quantitative easing will have muted impact on markets and the economy in general and will push the responsibility back to Congress," said Brad Sorensen, director of market and sector analysis at Schwab Center for Financial Research. Today's [CPI and industrial production] numbers were not great but in-line with the overall economic trend, which is the US economy is still growing, albeit at a very slow pace. We are still adding jobs and with oil prices low, we put the probability of recession at very low," he said. The S&P 500 index edged 0.2 per cent lower to 1350.66, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 per cent to 12,701.39 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3 per cent to 2888. Coca-Cola shares rose 2.2 per cent to $78.14 after the world's largest soft drinks company by revenues reported a smaller-than-expected decline in its second-quarter earnings. The company cited the strong dollar and slowdown in Europe as the main reasons for a drop in sales. Goldman Sachs beat analysts" estimates, reporting an 11 per cent drop in earnings due to a fall in trading activity. The bank's shares rose 0.5 per cent to $98.23. Johnson & Johnson , another company unveiling its results this morning, fell 0.9 per cent to $78.14 after the US healthcare company reported a steep drop in earnings and lowered its profits forecast. Mattel shares were the best performing in the S&P 500 index, rallying 10.5 per cent to $34.3 after the toymaker beat analysts" estimates as profits rose 20 per cent on strong sales of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels. In contrast, State Street was the laggard, falling 4.9 per cent to $41.94 after the company reported a 4 per cent decline in net income due to lower foreign exchange volume and weakness in international stock markets. Separately, it announced it would buy Goldman Sachs Group's hedge fund administration business for $550m in cash. Yahoo shares rose 2 per cent in after-market trade on Monday after the internet company appointed former Google executive Marissa Mayer as chief executive and president. Shares rose 0.3 per cent to $15.70 in morning trade. Intel is due to report earnings results after markets close.