Dow up 143 in another volatile day

Updated: 7:23 p.m. ET

Stocks mostly finished higher, but what a wacky day!

The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) shot up 260 points right after the open, gave up all of the gain and then rebounded in the last hour of trading to advance 143 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) saw a 25-point dissolve into an 11-point loss and then rebound to a 9-point gain.

Technology and consumer discretionary stocks, including Apple (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Wynn Resorts (WYNN),  Tiffany (TIF) and Coach (COH), were the weak links, and they never really recovered.

There may have been no other reason for the Dow and S&P 500 to rebound except short-covering by traders who wanted to lock in their profits after beating the market lower.

The Dow close was a gain of 1.3% to 11,154. The S&P finished with a 0.8% gain to 1,160. The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) closed down 11 points, or 0.4%, to 2,481. The Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX), which tracks the largest Nasdaq stocks, fell 23 points, or 1% to 2,198.

Article continues below.After the close, shares of chipmaker Micron Technology (MU) were off 2% to $5.75 after the company reported a fiscal-fourth-quarte​r loss of 14 cents a share, down from earnings of 32 cents a year ago. Analysts had expected a profit of a penny a share. Revenue was off 14% to $2.14 billion -- but better than the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion.

In addition to the weakness in tech and discretionary stocks, U.S.-traded Chinese stocks sold off heavily after Reuters reported that the Justice Department is investigating accounting fraud and other potential problems among those companies.

While no companies were named in the report, Baidu (BIDU), the big Chinese Internet company, saw its shares fall 9.2% to $110.29. Shares of Youko.com (YOKU), another Internet information company, fell $18.3% to $16.24. New Oriental Education & Technology Group (EDU) fell 11.7% to $24.36.

In addition, worries were building that China's growth won't be as robust over the next five years.

Stocks looking at 5-month losing streak
With today's close, the Dow is off 4% for the month and 10.2% for the quarter. The S&P 500 has fallen 4.8% this month and 12.1% for the quarter, with the Nasdaq off 3.8% for September and 10.6% for the quarter.

The indexes are looking at their fifth straight losing months. Since the market peaked on April 29, the Dow has fallen 12.9%, with the S&P 500 down 14.9% and the Nasdaq down 13.7%.

Futures trading suggests a modestly higher open on Friday.

Jobless claims fall; German parliament approves rescue package
The wild finish came on a day when there was some decent economic news. Initial jobless claims dropped below 400,000 for the first time since early August and to their lowest level since April.

In addition, the government boosted its estimate of second-quarter growth to 1.3% from 1%.

Meanwhile, Germany's parliament easily approved an expansion of the eurozone rescue fund’s firepower, freeing European officials to focus on what next steps may be needed to stem the debt crisis.

Commodities fade
Commodities initially rallied on the jobs and European news but also faded.

Copper (-HG) settled down slightly to $3.246 a pound today after plunging on Wednesday. The metal is down 24.2% this quarter alone, and many analysts have worried that it is presaging a possible global economic slowdown. Gold (-GC), meanwhile, dropped 80 cents to $1,617.30 an ounce in New York. Silver (-SI) was up 38.8 cents to $30.52 an ounce.

Crude oil (-CL) was up $1.23 to $82.44 a barrel. Brent crude was up $1.20 to $105.01 a barrel.

Energy prices -- New York close
			Thur.			Wed.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Crude oil (-CL)			$82.14			$81.21			-7.51%			-10.11%
(per barrel)
Heating oil (-HO)			$2.8266			$2.8271			-8.35%			11.12%
(per gallon)
Natural gas (-NG)			$3.7470			$3.7990			-7.57%			-14.94%
(per mil. BTU)
Unleaded gasoline (-RB)			$2.5586			$2.5753			-11.05%			4.30%
(per gallon)
Brent crude			$103.95			$103.81			-9.49%			9.71%
(per barrel)
Retail gasoline			$3.4550			$3.4650			-4.48%			12.47%
(per gallon; AAA)

Financial stocks see gains
Financial stocks are among the market leaders because of the German parliament vote. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) was up 3% to $31.39 after rising as much as 5.4%. Bank of America (BAC) added 3.1% to $6.35. Citigroup (C) climbed 3.8% to $26.90. Financial Select SPDR (XLF) exchange-traded fund, which tracks the financial sector of the S&P 500, was up 2.8% to $12.24.

Utilities stocks -- prized these days for their dividends -- were the leading S&P 500 sector, and the Dow Jones Utilities Average ($UTIL) rose 1.6% to $438.56.

The laggards were consumer discretionary stocks, partly because of the declines for Amazon.com, Wynn Resorts, Tiffany and Coach. Tiffany was off 6.9% to $64.70. Coach was down 6.1% to $54. Businessweek said the declines were due in part to worries about slower growth in China. Tiffany generates 51% of sales in the Asia-Pacific region; Coach also has a big Asian presence.

Shares of Research In Motion (RIMM) were down 3.4% to $21.16 after Collins Stewart analyst John Vinh commented that he thinks the company has stopped producing its PlayBook tablet device and is looking to exit the tablet market. The company derided the report as "pure fiction," The Wall Street Journal said.

In addition, Netflix (NFLX) was off 11% to $113.19 on reports that Microsoft (MSFT) plans to offer online pay television services from Comcast (CMCSA) and Verizon Communications (VZ) through Xbox Live. (Microsoft is the publisher of MSN Money.)

Twenty-eight of the 30 Dow stocks were higher, led by Travelers Companies (TRV), up 3.2% to $49.69, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. Microsoft, down 0.5% to $25.45, and Intel (INTC), down 0.5% to $22.21, were the laggards.

A total 360 S&P 500 stocks were higher, led by Hartford Financial Services (HIG), up 8.2% to $17.11, and Genworth Financial (GNW), up 7.8% to $6. Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was the laggard, down 13.7%  to $5.31 after cutting its third-quarter forecasts for earnings and revenue. The problem, the company said, was manufacturing glitches.

Forty-two Nasdaq-100 stocks were higher, led by Life Technologies (LIFE), up 3.2% to $38.92, and Dutch biotech company Qiagen (QGEN), up 2.6% to $14.47. The index was lower because of the weakness in Apple, Amazon.com, Baidu, Priceline (PCLN), Wynn Resorts and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR). That group was responsible for 14 points of the index's 23-point loss by themselves.

Is some improvement coming in jobs?
The number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time saw a bigger-than-expected​ drop in the week ended Sept. 24, falling below the 400,000 level to 391,000. Economists had expected initial claims to drop to 420,000.

But the decline may be technical. Many state unemployment offices along the East Coast had been scrambling to process claims in the first few weeks of September after hurricanes forced office shutdowns.

The improvement in claims came a day after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called the nation's high level of unemployment "a national crisis." "We’ve had close to 10% unemployment now for a number of years," Bernanke said after a Cleveland speech. "Of the people who are unemployed, about 45% have been unemployed for six months or more. This is unheard of."

The jobless-claims report came as the government said second-quarter growth was a touch better than thought. But 1.3% annualized growth is almost like no growth.

Germany agrees to expand Europe's bailout fund
German lawmakers approved today a proposal to expand the European Financial Stability Facility. That eased concerns about recent disagreements on the size of write-downs of private creditors holding Greek bonds.

Leaders in Slovenia and Finland approved the measure earlier in the week. All 17 members of the eurozone must agree to the changes for the proposal to pass. 

European stocks moved higher on the vote. Germany's Xetra Dax Index ($DE:DAX) closed up 1.1% to 5,640. France's CAC-40 Index ($FR:PX1) was up 1.1% to 3,028.

Short hits from the markets -- New York close
			Thur.			Wed.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Treasury yields
13-week Treasury bill			0.0100%			0.010%			0.00%			-91.67%
5-year Treasury note			0.971%			0.958%			2.00%			-51.84%
10-year Treasury note			1.957%			2.002%			-11.77%			-40.79%
30-year Treasury bond			2.997%			3.092%			-16.56%			-31.29%
Currencies
U.S. Dollar Index			78.603			78.429			5.97%			-0.86%
British pound			1.5716			1.5576			-3.30%			0.71%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in pounds			£0.636			£0.642			3.41%			-0.70%
Euro in dollars			$1.36			$1.35			-5.18%			1.90%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in euros			€ 0.733			€ 0.739			5.46%			-1.86%
U.S. $ in yen			77.04			76.54			0.39%			-5.32%
U.S. $ in Chinese			6.42			6.39			0.29%			-2.97%
yuan
Canada dollar			$0.971			$0.967			-4.98%			-3.22%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. dollar			$1.031			$1.034			5.25%			3.34%
(in Canadian $)
Commodities
Gold (-GC)			$1,617.30			$1,618.10			-11.70%			13.78%
(per troy ounce)
Copper (-HG)			$3.246			$3.247			-22.80%			-27.01%
(per pound)
Silver (-SI)			$30.5220			$30.1340			-26.92%			-1.34%
(per troy ounce)
Wheat (-ZW)			$6.5425			$6.3875			-17.34%			-17.63%
(per bushel)
Corn (-ZC)			$6.3250			6.3075			-17.94%			1.61%
(per bushel)
Cotton			$1.0222			0.9953			-3.39%			-29.41%
(per pound)
Coffee			$2.3115			2.335			-19.81%			-3.89%
(per pound)
Crude oil (-CL)			$82.14			$81.21			-7.51%			-10.11%
(per barrel)