Gains in General Electric (NYSE:GE), up 8.78 percent, and Citigroup, up 11.21 percent, helped lift the Dow Jones industrial average from early losses of more than 600 points.

The DJIA briefly pulled ahead late in the day, but the final hour saw more declines. The Dow index closed at 8,451.19 points, off 1.49 percent on a loss of 128.00 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 1.18 percent to 899.22, down 10.70 points. The Nasdaq composite index gained 4.39 percent to 1,649.51, up 4.39 points.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,122 stocks advanced and 2,284 declined on a volume of 10.9 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell 26/32 to yield 3.884 percent.

The dollar was mixed. The euro fell to $1.3573, compared to $1.3609 Thursday. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar fell to 99.01 yen, from 99.91 yen Thursday.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average lost 9.62 percent, down 881.06 points to 8,276.43.

The FTSE 100 index in London fell to 3,932.10, off 8.85 percent, to 3,932.10.