Wall Street Stumbles Again

Updated from 4:21 p.m. EST

Stocks ended another rocky session to the downside Monday, weighed down by a selloff overseas, disappointing economic data and weakness in the tech space.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average took a turn for the worse late in the session and closed down 63.69 points, or 0.53%, to 12,050.41. The index swung from being down as much as 75 points to up 75 points during the trading day.

Twenty-six of the Dow's 30 components finished in negative territory, led by a 3% decline in Alcoa (AA Quote).

The S&P 500 shed 13.05 points, or 0.94%, to finish at 1374.12, and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 27.32 points, or 1.15%, to 2,340.68. Both indices had pushed into positive territory before relinquishing gains.

"We had a lot of volatility, and the last half hour we suffered a setback," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist with Avalon Partners. "The markets remain nervous and continue to feed off of the negative. We are approaching some psychological barriers, such as 12,000 on the Dow, so it'll be interesting to see if we can hold it. We're caught in a trap of a lot of uncertainties."

The major indices finished below last Tuesday's lows, when the Dow sank roughly 546 points in intraday trading. The index is now down 413 points, or 3.3%, for the year. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has fallen 44 points, or 3.1%, for the year. The Nasdaq has given back 75 points, or 3.1%, for 2007.