By Emily Chasan (ABC News)

The Standard & Poor 500 and Nasdaq Composite stock indexes fell on Tuesday as investors were unsettled by rising interest rates in the bond market and a disappointing forecast from chip maker Texas Instruments Inc.

The Dow industrials were little changed as a rise in General Motors Corp. offset losses. GM rose 1.4 percent to $20.08 after the company said it would reduce some pension benefits and make other changes to cut retirement-related costs.

U.S. crude oil prices, fell $1.01 to $61.40 a barrel, pressuring shares of energy companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.64 point, or 0.01 percent, at 10,959.23. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 4.18 points, or 0.33 percent, at 1,274.08. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 19.94 points, or 0.87 percent, at 2,266.09.

Stocks have been slipping as benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yields hit their highest since June 2004, raising fear among investors that higher interest rates are ahead.

Higher interest rates can create a difficult environment for stocks by raising corporate borrowing costs and crimping profits, but also by attracting investors into bonds from stocks.

"In the short term, stocks look a little overbought … so it was probably time for a breather, and interest rates seem to be the excuse for the moment," said Chip Hanlon, president of Delta Global Advisors Inc.

The telecommunications sector weighed on stocks a day after AT&T Inc. announced a plan to buy BellSouth Corp. . On Tuesday, Citigroup cut its ratings on both BellSouth and Qwest Communications International Inc. The Standard & Poor's Telecommunications Services Index fell 2.3 percent after a 1.8 percent rise on Monday.

Expectations that OPEC would hold production at near-maximum levels continued to weigh on energy prices which hurt shares of oil companies Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. . Shares of Exxon were down were down 0.7 percent at $59.60 on the New York Stock Exchange while Chevron shares fell 1.1 percent to $55.24.

Texas Instruments, the top supplier of mobile phone chips, raised the lower end of its profit forecast range but failed to deliver the strong outlook Wall Street had wanted. Its shares fell 3.4 percent, while shares of Intel Corp. the world's biggest chipmaker, slid 1.3 percent to $20.03. Intel warned last week that its quarterly revenue would be lower than previously estimated.

Shares of AT&T fell 2.9 percent to $26.23 on the NYSE. BellSouth shares were down 3.5 percent to $33.31. Qwest shares were down 7 percent at $6.36.