Another turbulent trading session on Wall Street ended with a mixed picture as the markets remain uncertain over how much damage the weakening economy will inflict on corporate earnings. 

Today's Market

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 172.04 points, or 2.02%, to 8691.25, the broader S&P 500 added 11.33 points, or 1.26%, to 908.11 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 11.84 points, or 0.73%, to 1603.91. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 rose 14.43 points, or 2.13%, to 692.69.

The Dow swung wildly in a huge, 550-point trading range on Thursday, ending the day near session highs. Throughout the day the markets shifted course without much prodding, repeatedly dipping in and out of positive territory. The moves tended to be short-lived, though, indicating a lack of conviction. 

“The posture of the market is literally swinging every 60 to 90 minutes," said Frank Davis, director of sales and trading at LEK Securities. “'Up' has become a relative term." 

Turbulence is nothing new in this market. The blue-chips have closed with a triple-digit move in one direction or the other for 15 out of the past 16 trading days. This month alone the Dow has swung in an enormous 3,000 point range.

I think this volatility is here to stay. I don’t think its going anywhere,” NYSE trader Doreen Mogavero of Mogavero & Lee told FOX Business. “We certainly are in a bearish mode. We’ve gone back to the psychology of selling any rally that we get versus buying a dip.”

More than half of the 30 stocks on the Dow closed higher on Thursday, led by Boeing (BA) and ExxonMobil (XOM). On the other hand, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Coca-Cola (KO) were the largest percentage decliners on the index.

The Nasdaq Composite failed to join in the rally, losing almost 1% of its value and slumping to the lowest level since June 2003. Cadence Designs (CDNS) and Level 3 Communications (LVLT) posted the widest percentage losses on the Nasdaq 100, plunging to 52-week lows. Amgen (AMGN) and Citrix Systems (CTXS) were the index's largest percentage winners. 

The markets had mixed reactions to a new batch of earnings reports that weren't much worse than expected. Among the companies beating expectations were drug maker Eli Lilly (LLY), corporate barometer UPS (UPS), Dow Chemical (DOW) and railroader Union Pacific (UNP). 

At the same time, many of those same companies reporting better-than-expected results for last quarter warned that the current period will be weaker thanks to the economy. Dow Chemical warned of a "global recession through most of 2009," UPS narrowed its forecast for the rest of 2008, Amazon.com (AMZN) sharply cut its sales outlook and Sony (SNE) slashed its profit outlook by nearly 60%.

"There is no reason for people to run right out and buy equities. Everywhere you look there’s nothing but negative news," said Kenneth Polcari, managing director at ICAP Equities. “We’re going to see this last at least, in my opinion, through the election.”

The markets were also reacting to the latest comments from Washington officials.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan appeared to spook Wall Street after he warned on Thursday the U.S. is in the midst of a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami" and will see steeper unemployment. 

On the other hand, Treasury Department official Neel Kashkari said there are "numerous signs of improvement in our markets and in the confidence in our financial institutions" as a result of the government's new capital purchase program. .

Meanwhile, crude oil futures recovered from their lowest close of the year, rising back above $68 a barrel on Thursday ahead of an expected production cut from OPEC. The price of a barrel of crude oil rose $1.09 to close at $67.84 a barrel. 

Oil prices are still off by 53% from its all-time record of $145.29 a barrel, set on July 3. The commodity has slumped more than 33% in October on continued recession fears. 

Global Markets

European markets saw steep declines on Thursday before eventually recovering. The Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 ended slightly lower while German's DAX Index tumbled 1%. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down 2.5% overnight and Hong Kong's Hang Senx Index plunged 3.55%. 

Global stocks have been under serious pressure from drastically lowered economic expectations and world currencies in free fall. The dollar has strengthened against its rivals as many had already realized the U.S. economy was in trouble. The greenback hit another fresh high of $1.6040 against the British Pound. 

Data Dump

The day's economic reports did little to help the markets as the Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose by 15,000 to 470,000 last week. Economists had forecasted claims to rise more modestly to 465,000. 

While the numbers weren't significantly worse than last week, they remain at elevated levels that many economists say already indicate a recession.

Corporate Movers

General Motors (GM) announced plans to start making involuntary layoffs of salaried workers in late 2008 to early 2009. The auto maker will also halt several worker benefits, including matching payments into 401(k) plans.

Goldman Sachs (GS) is planning to cut 10% of its 32,500 workers, according to various published reports on Thursday.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) tripled its third-quarter profit thanks to a one-time asset sale. The drug giant’s adjusted-earnings of 46 cents per share topped expectations by 4 cents. Bristol’s revenue gained 14% to $5.25 billion, roughly in-line with estimates.

UPS (UPS) beat the Street with third-quarter earnings of 96 cents per share but warned it sees its full-year profit "toward lower end" of its earlier forecast of $3.50 to $3.70 per share. The bellwether shipping company also cautioned it saw a sharp "slowdown in business" near the end of last quarter.

The New York Times Co. (NYT) plunged to 17-year lows before recovering after the publisher posted a quarterly loss and said it may need to write down the value of its New England operations by $150 million. The publisher of the Boston Globe and namesake paper fell further after Moody's warned it may need to cut its credit ratings. 

Amazon.com (AMZN) tumbled to 52-week lows after reporting a weaker-than-expected revenue estimate for the holiday shopping season quarter. 

Sony (SNE), the electronics maker that exports more than 75% of its products, slashed its full-year profit forecast by 57%due to the strengthening Japanese yen. 

Dow Chemical (DOW) exceeded expectations with a third-quarter adjusted-profit of 60 cents a share, compared to estimates for 56 cents. Still, Dow warned it sees a recession through most of 2009. 

Ely Lilly (LLY) reported a third-quarter loss of $465.6 million on Zyprexa settlements however its adjusted-earnings of $1.04 per share topped Wall Street's expectations.

Union Pacific (UNP) reported a stronger-than-expected profit of $1.38 a share in the third quarter and gave an in-line earnings outlook for the current quarter.

JetBlue (JBLU) reported a third-quarter loss of 2 cents per share and an 18% rise in revenue to $902 million. Analysts had expected a wider loss of 4 cents on lighter revenue of $899 million.

Daimler (DAI), the German auto maker of Mercedes-Benz, reported a weaker-than-expected third-quarter profit after taxes of 648 million euros, missing expectations for 1.383 billion euros. The company also slashed its 2008 forecast.