Dow plunges, recovers

It drops 439 points before climbing
back to finish down just 45

---

By Amy Baldwin
Associated Press

NEW YORK >> In a stomach-churning roller-coaster ride on Wall Street, the Dow Jones slid as much as 439 points today before climbing back and finishing the day with a loss of just 45.

The Dow was near the closing low it reached after the Sept. 11 attacks when it began to move higher. But the recovery was attributed more to bargain-hunting than to a change in investor sentiment.

"Some people are stepping in to see if they can make some money. I don't know if that will be sustained," said Stephen Carl, head of equity trading at The Williams Capital Group.

The Dow closed down 45.34 points, or 0.5 percent, at 8,639.19, according to preliminary calculations. Combined with last week's loss of 694.97, the blue chips have fallen 740 points over six straight losing sessions. Last week marked the Dow's largest weekly point decline since Sept. 21.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 8.61 points today, or 0.6 percent, to 1,382.11, after last week's loss of 74.86.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.53 points, or 0.4 percent, to 917.86.

The price of the Treasury's 10-year note was down 1/2 point today, while its yield rose to 4.64 percent from 4.58 percent late Friday. Two-year Treasury notes fell 1/32 point to 10058, their yield was unchaged from 2.54 percent late Friday.

Stocks have been in an eight-week slide, largely attributed to corporate accounting scandals that made investors mistrustful of earnings reports.

"For lack of a better description, you have as much full-fledged panic as you are going to get," said Tony Cecin, director of institutional trading at US Bancorp Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis.

"The negative mentality is as pervasive as I have ever seen it, and I went through the '73 and '74 bear market."

"Just as the markets were driven on the upside by emotion -- euphoria and greed -- this market is driven by fear and despair," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Corp.

Bookkeeping concerns weighed on Duke Energy, which fell $1.05 to $23.70 after being downgraded by Wall Street investment banks. On Thursday, Duke said it had received federal subpoenas for information on its trading.

Other losers included 3M, down $1.98 at $118.89, and Johnson & Johnson, which fell $1.50 to $49. General Electric declined 35 cents to $28.25.