Dow down, again, in another wild ride

NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street extended its devastating losses Friday, but prices swung sharply as investors scooped up some shares decimated by more than a week of intense and panicked selling. The Dow Jones industrials, down nearly 700 points in the opening minutes of trading, recovered to an advance of more than 100 before turning sharply lower again, and the other major indexes fluctuated widely as well.

Frozen credit markets and a loss of confidence in the world's financial system have caused the Dow to drop 21 percent in just 10 trading days. The blue chip index tumbled 678 points Thursday, and is heading to its worst weekly point drop, and one of its biggest weekly percentage drops, since being created 112 years ago.

Friday's gyrations were likely exacerbated by the computer-driven "buy" orders that kicked in when prices fell far enough to make some stocks — including the pummeled financial stocks — look like attractive bets. But that buying didn't necessarily reflect an easing of the market's deep despair, and so the heavy selling generally continued.

"Fear has been running rampant all over the Street. Fear and greed, that's what rules the Street. I think the carcass has been stripped to the bone," said Dave Henderson, a floor trader on the New York Stock Exchange for Raven Securities Corp.

"The mood, it swings with the market. When we went positive, the euphoria down there was awesome. It's like at a football game," he said.

Shortly after 1 p.m., the Dow Jones industrials were down 433.05 to 8,146.14.