Stocks End Volatile Day Mixed

Meanwhile, the president elect pitched his economic stimulus plan. "It is time to set a new course for this economy, and that change must begin now," said President-elect Barack Obama. "Our goal is not to create a slew of new government programs, but a foundation for long term economic growth," he said.

Obama said the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan will provide, among other things, a $1,000 tax cut to 95% of working families, and the creation of jobs, particularly in clean energy and the private sector. Indeed, the scale of the $775 billion plan is unprecedented, but so is the severity of the situation, said Obama, who noted that it's altogether likely that things will get worse before they get better.

"Every day we wait, or point fingers, or drag our feet ... we will sink deeper into a crisis that at some point we may not be able to reverse," said Obama.

Elsewhere, the number of U.S. workers remaining on jobless rolls hit a new 26-year high. But the number filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 467,000 last week, much better than the expectation for 545,000.

The Labor Department said the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Dec. 27 were in Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

The government will release non-farm payroll figures Friday, perhaps the most anticipated data of the week, with expectations for a drop of 500,000. But a report issued by ADP Employment Service on Wednesday forecast that private-sector employment fell by 693,000 in December, suggesting the nonfarm payroll numbers will have declined much more severely than expected.