NEW YORK » Wall Street turned in another stunning finish yesterday and extended its unprecedented streak of volatility - this time, to the upside - as investors spent a fractious session again struggling with fears about a recession but giving in to a last-hour wave of buying. The Dow Jones industrials ended up 400 points, after falling 380 early in the session.

Investors initially appeared cheered by a better-than-expected reading from the U.S. Labor Department on consumer prices. The flat reading on September's Consumer Price Index compares with August's 0.1 percent decline, which was the first in nearly two years. The core index, which eliminates often volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.1 percent. Economists had been expecting CPI would rise to 0.1 percent and that core CPI would increase 0.2 percent.

And the Philadelphia Federal Reserve said regional manufacturing conditions weakened in October. The bank's regional index came in at a negative 37.5 compared with a positive 3.8 for September. That news followed word from the Federal Reserve that production at the nation's factories, mines and utilities plunged 2.8 percent last month, on top of a 1 percent drop in August.

While the Fed estimated that disruptions related to hurricanes accounted for about 2.25 percentage points of the drop in industrial production, the news was still discouraging for market that is hypersensitive to anything negative about the economy.

Yesterday, the Dow rose 401.35, or 4.68 percent, to 8,979.26, showing an 816-point swing from its low to its high of the session. The Dow remains up 528 points, or 6.3 percent, for the week.

Broader stock indicators also jumped. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 38.59, or 4.25 percent, to 946.43, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 89.38, or 5.49 percent, to 1,717.71.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 7.86 billion shares, up from 6.4 billion traded Wednesday.

The dollar rose against other major currencies.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 34.46, or 6.86 percent, to 536.57.

While the credit markets are performing better than they were last week given several unprecedented actions by governments around the world - including the decision to buy stakes in private banks - they are hardly operating normally.

The three-month Treasury bill yesterday was yielding 0.47 percent, higher than 0.20 percent on Wednesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.97 percent from 3.98 percent late Wednesday.

Consumer products companies also rose as light, sweet crude fell $4.69 to settle at $69.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement price since Aug. 23, 2007. Investors are hoping lower energy prices will leave more money in consumers' wallets.