NEW YORK, Oct 18: US stocks finished a chaotic week on a high note as a rally that started mid-day Thursday accelerated Friday. But it wasn't enough to offset losses earlier in the week.
All three major indices fell for a fourth week in a row, albeit by less than last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 163.69 points (0.99 per cent) to 16,380.41.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 19.37 (1.02 per cent) to 1,886.76, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 17.80 (0.42 per cent) to 4,258.44.
Wall Street equities veered near correction territory at midweek as worry about another eurozone crisis collided with fears about the spread of the Ebola virus to push markets deep into the red.
For Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank, the low-point came with news that a nurse from Dallas with Ebola had boarded a commercial flight just prior to being diagnosed with the deadly virus.
"That's when nerves were really frayed and investors were really worried," he said, timing the news to a plunge in the Dow well bellow 16,000.
Wednesday's selloff was also spurred by a pair of surprisingly weak indicators for September that suggested the US economy may not be as strong as is widely thought.