Volatility Returns To Markets, Pulls Dow Off Highs

SARA LEPRO

NEW YORK (AP) — After months on hiatus, volatility is back on Wall Street.

Stocks ended higher Monday after another day of big swings. Stronger reports on manufacturing and housing gave the market an early boost but a rise in the dollar and worries about the soundness of an eight-month rally chipped away at the gains. A late surge left the Dow Jones industrial average with a gain of 77 points but still down by about half from its best levels of the day.

After nearly unbreakable gains since midsummer, trading has become much rockier in recent weeks as investors worry that the pace of the economic recovery they have been counting on will be hard to maintain.

Jittery traders have pushed the market around in ways more reminiscent of the huge swings of a year ago than the smoother advance stocks have seen since the early spring. The Dow has gained or lost more than 100 points in six out of the last seven days. The last time the Dow had as long a streak of triple-digit moves was in late March, shortly after major stock indexes bounced off 12-year lows.