U.S. Stocks Drop in Rollercoaster Day; Dow Swings 1,000 Points (Lynn Thomasson)

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Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell for an eighth straight day in a whipsaw session that sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its biggest point swing ever.

  The Standard & Poor's 500 Index capped its worst week since 1933 and the Dow since 1914, as concern the financial crisis will drag the economy into a recession pushed Morgan Stanley and CBS Corp. down more than 20 percent and Exxon Mobil Corp. more than 8 percent. The Dow recovered from a 697-point tumble and rose as much as 322 points in the last hour as an industry group said the bankruptcy auction of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s debt won't worsen credit losses.

  ``At this point, investors are just focusing on getting through the day,'' said Alan Gayle, the Richmond, Virginia-based senior strategist at Ridgeworth Investments, which oversees about $70 billion. ``The markets are being driven by emotion and rumor.''

  The S&P 500 slipped 10.7 points, or 1.2 percent, to 899.22. The Dow lost 128 points, or 1.5 percent, to 8,451.19. Both gauges extended their weekly drops to 18.2 percent. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 4.39 points to 1,649.51. Eleven stocks fell for every 10 that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

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