Stocks end rollercoaster session mixed; Dow has worst weekly drop ever

NEW YORK — Stocks capped their worst week ever with a dramatically volatile session Friday that left stocks with a widely mixed finish. Late-day buying helped curb steep losses as investors snapped up bargains among stocks devastated by seven days of massive losses. The Nasdaq composite index finished with a modest gain, while the Dow Jones industrials lost 128 points, a relatively mild drop after the blue chips fell 2,271 during the previous eight trading days. Still, the Dow, which traded in a range of 1,019 points Friday, had its worst week ever, as did the Standard & Poor's 500 index. The hair-trigger mentality of the market was evident from the opening bell. The Dow fell 696 points in the first 15 minutes, recovered to an advance of more than 100 before the first hour was over, then turned sharply lower again before... [read full story]