Stocks Make Way Off Lows Despite More Grim Data

Updated from 9:35 a.m. EST

Stocks on Wall Street tumbled early Thursday as traders continued to fret about the struggling economy, but the market turned about an hour into the session and made its way back to the flat line.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, down more than 200 points earlier, was recently off only 45 points at 7952. The S&P 500 was losing 6 points at 801. The Nasdaq was lower by 1 point at 1385.

Despite the recovery from the day's worse levels, the latest economic data were adding to existing concerns that the U.S. is headed for serious struggles. The Labor Department reported that jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 15 had increased by 27,000 to reach 542,000, their highest levels since 1992. Economists had anticipated claims numbers to come in at 503,000. ...