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Wall Street was little changed as strong energy shares seem to offset weakness everywhere else. The Dow lost 7 points. The S&P 500 rose less than a point. The Nasdaq gave up 12 points. Energy shares rallied on the back of a new record for oil. Crude jumped as high as $103.95 before backing off a bit. Several OPEC members downplayed hopes for a boost in production. But this market is trading on more than just the fundamentals. Michael Theesfeld is an energy trader for HPR Commodities. SOUNDBITE: Michael Theesfeld, energy trader, HPR Commodities (english) saying: "Quite frankly it is pretty hard to make money in equities right now. It is pretty hard to make money in any other place and the momentum behind commodities right now - the momentum behind being long energy or anything like that - it is a pretty strong incentive to be in these commodities right now." Crude oil settled at $102.45 a barrel -- Sending shares of ExxonMobil and Chevron higher for the day. The rest of the market was spooked by signs of a contraction in the factory sector. Financials were hurt by new troubles at mortgage lender Thornburg and lowered earnings targets for the likes of Goldman Sachs. Thornburg Mortgage lost half of its value. Goldman Sachs lost about 3 percent. February was a dismal month for the U.S. car market. General Motors saw a 16 percent slide in sales. Ford posted a 10 percent drop And even sales at Japan's Toyota were down. Shares of GM were little changed. Ford lost over 5 percent. Big blue chips losers included United Technologies. The company's offer to buy Diebold for $2.6 billion was rejected. And Boeing lost out on a $35 billion air force contract. Shares of United Technologies - down roughly 1.6 percent. Diebold surged about 61 percent. Europe's EADS, the parent of Airbus, snagged that Air Force contract away from Boeing, that stock surged in European trade, but the banks weighed on the market, which fell for the fourth session in a row. Conway Gittens, Reuters. COMPANIES MENTIONED: SYMBOLS: