A big final-hour comeback pulled the Dow Jones industrial average nearly back to where it started Wednesday.
The Dow was down as much as 191 points earlier as the threat of a financial crisis spreading from Europe shook markets. A late surge of buying erased nearly all of the Dow's deficit after news crossed that the leaders of France and Italy favored using region-wide bonds to support Europe's economy. That gave traders hope that a summit of European leaders might produce concrete steps to tackle the economic morass there.
The Dow fell 6.66 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 12,496.15.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.23 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,318.86.
The Nasdaq rose 11.04 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,850.12.
For the week so far:
The Dow is up 126.77 points, or 1 percent.
The S&P 500 is up 23.64 points, or 1.8 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 71.33 points, or 2.6 percent.
For the year so far:
The Dow is up 278.59 points, or 2.3 percent.
The S&P 500 is up 61.26 points, or 4.9 percent.
The Nasdaq composite is up 244.97 points, or 9.4 percent.
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