Stocks traded lower for most of the day, weighed down by energy producers and basic-materials companies, but shares pared their losses in the last minutes of trading.  Stock markets have been pushing higher since scraping their lowest levels in 12 years in early March, leavened by hopes that the economy’s long decline was finally turning around. But with the losses on Wednesday, the S.& P. 500 fell back to about where it had been three weeks ago, prompting some analysts to say that the broader market’s direction was no longer up, but sideways.  “We haven’t really made any progress at all,” Mr. Frederick said.  New figures on the health of the service sector also helped to underscore concerns that a robust economic recovery could still be a ways off. The Institute for Supply Management said its nonmanufacturing index, a gauge of conditions and outlooks among service-sector businesses, rose slightly last month, but not as much as investors had hoped.  The Commerce Department reported that manufacturing orders rose by 0.7 percent in April.  Investors also appeared to be battening down before the government released its monthly unemployment data on Friday. Economists expect the unemployment rate to rise to 9.2 percent, from 8.9 percent, and they say they believe the economy shed an additional 520,000 jobs in May, a figure that would raise the tally of job losses during the recession above six million.  In a report released Wednesday, the private group Automatic Data Processing said the economy shed 532,000 private jobs last month.  Crude oil prices, which flirted with $70 a barrel a few days ago, fell back $2.43 to settle at $66.12.  Interest rates fell slightly. The Treasury’s benchmark 10-year note was up 19/32, at 96 17/32, and the yield, which moves in the opposite direction from the price, was at 3.54 percent, down from 3.61 percent late Tuesday.  Following are the results of the Treasury’s auction Wednesday of 11-day and 70-day cash management bills:  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B11 of the New York edition with the headline: Rallies for Shares and Oil Begin to Falter. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
With new warnings about employment levels, analysts said Wall Street may be trading sideways after a rebound from lows in early March.