Blue Chips Wobble, Don't Fall Down

Updated from 4:28 p.m. EDT

Stocks closed a rocky session mixed Monday as blue-chip stocks managed eke out a marginal recovery following the previous session's giant selloff, even as tech shares finished to the downside.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, up roughly 120 points earlier, wavered late in the session before closing up 70.51 points, or 0.58%, to 12,280.32. The S&P 500 clawed its way up from a late pullback to end up 1.08 points, or 0.08%, at 1361.76.

The Nasdaq Composite, which was weak for virtually the entire session, dropped 15.1 points, or 0.61%, to 2459.46 amid losses in big tech names Apple (AAPL Quote) -- which unveiled its new 3G-enabled iPhone today -- as well as Cisco (CSCO Quote) and Google (GOOG Quote).

"Considering what happened last week, I have to say that this is a pretty poor bounce-back," said Phillip Roth, chief technical market analyst with Miller Tabak. Referring to a longer-term rebound in equities over the past three months, he added, "The bear market rally looks over."

Roth believes equities will eventually slide past the low point reached in March as Bear Stearns, now a part of JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote), nearly collapsed. He added, however, that stocks "might not crack those lows imminently."

Crude oil, which ramped higher by more than $10 a barrel in the last session and helped yank down the Dow by some 400 points, remained at extraordinarily high levels today. Still, futures saw a bit of profit-taking in the wake of news that Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi has called Friday's massive gains "unjustified," according to the Saudi Press Agency. Futures were off $4.19 to $134.35 a barrel.