A rally effort in the final hour of trading on Wall Street pulled stocks higher to end a chaotic Friday with mixed results. At the center of the whipsaw session was the fate of the financial system, which has been buckling as credit markets remained frozen and financial firms got pummeled.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung violently throughout the session. The Dow suffered a sharp selloff of nearly 700 points early in the session to fall briefly below 8000 for the first time in more than five years. It heaved briefly into positive territory two times, before ending the day down 128 points, or 1.5%, at 8451.19. The S&P 500 lost 10.7 points, or 1.2%, at 899.22. The Nasdaq gained 4.39 points, or 0.3%, at 1649.51.
For the week, sellers dominated the charts as the Dow dropped 18%, the S&P lost 18% and the Nasdaq dropped 15%.