Stocks Stop the Bleeding

Even with the gains, the Dow and S&P 500 remain down for the year following the previous day's drop.

For February, the Dow dropped 353 points, or 2.8%, its worst monthly performance since April 2005. The S&P 500 lost 32 points, or 2.2%, snapping an eight-month winning streak. The Nasdaq finished the month with a loss of 51 points, or 2.1%.

Roughly 3.86 billion shares changed hands on the Big Board. Advancers beat decliners by a 5-to-3 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq reached nearly 2.65 billion shares, with winners outpacing losers 8 to 7.

A large part of the blame for the huge drop a day earlier went to a selloff in overseas equities, particularly in mainland China, that preceded the U.S. session. Markets around the world were deep in the red again, with the notable exception of a bounce in China.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index, coming off a 9% dive, closed up 3.5%.

Elsewhere, however, traders were contending with heavy losses. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 2.9% to 17,604, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 2.5% to 19,652. South Korea's Kospi gave up 2.6%, and Singapore's Straits Times Index surrendered 3.7%.

That weakness spread to Europe, where the London FTSE 100 was down 1.8%, the Frankfurt Xetra DAX was off 1.5% and the Paris Cac 40 fell 1.3%.