Dow moves back above 10,000

The US stock market has stabilised after three days of volatile trading.

But although investors were hoping that 317-point plunge blue chips took on Wednesday would inspire a rally, they saw little reason to actually do much buying.

The Dow advanced 57.82, or 0.6%, to close at 10,031.28 after rising more than 100 points earlier.

The Dow fell below 10,000 on Wednesday for the first time in five months and fluctuated above and below that milestone throughout today.

But broader market indicators ended the session mixed. The Nasdaq composite index slipped 31.29, or 1.6%, to 1,940.80 after taking a big enough hit on Monday when it closed below 2,000 level for the first time in more than 27 months.

Wall Street's broadest measure, the Standard & Poor's 500 index, gained 6.85, or 0.6%, to finish at 1,173.56. However, the S&P 500 has lost nearly a fourth of its value since its closing high of 1,527.46, reached a year ago.

Today's slim gains followed a positive session in Japan, in which stocks finished up 2.6%. Economic instability in Japan, where the government admitted that the country is in a state of deflation, sent shares skidding in the United States and in Europe on Wednesday.

Most analysts doubt the US market will move substantially higher in the near future. They say investors still are grappling with their biggest fear, which is that earnings and the economy are going to be weak for the foreseeable future.

But there was some optimism. Financial stocks, for example, traded sharply higher after falling hard on Wednesday as investors worried how Japan's economic crisis would affect them. Citigroup climbed $1.50 to $46.40 and JP Morgan Chase rose $1.51 to $45.26. Both are Dow stocks.

Meanwhile, bleak earnings outlooks pulled the tech sector lower. Software maker Intuit plummeted $12.63, down nearly 30%, to $29.63 after saying business will grow more slowly than expected. Oracle, which was due to report its earnings after the market closed, fell $1.38 to $14.69.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume was 1.22 billion shares, compared with 1.37 billion on Wednesday.