Talk about a roller-coaster ride.

The Dow Jones industrial average, down 300 points in trading today, climbed back into positive territory before ending with a small loss.

The Dow closed down 15.69 points, or  0.12 percent, at 12,845.78. The  S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite also ended slightly lower.

The recovery came largely in the last half hour of trading and was led by a rally in battered financial stocks. It was a remarkable turnaround for a market that had officially entered a correction: a 10 percent decline in the major indexes from their July highs. There had not been a market correction since March 2003.

Breaking the correction threshold apparently triggered bargain-hunting for stocks. There were also rumors that the Federal Reserve was planning an emergency meeting to discuss the turmoil in th mrkets. 

Discouraging news about credit and housing had weighed heavily on the stock market for most of the day. Beore the opening the mortgage giant Countrywide Financial announced that it would draw down an $11.5 billion credit line in its entirety.

 And before stocks opened, markets in Asia and Europe were sharply lower. Stocks in Tokyo fell 2 percent, and Hong Kong stocks slumped more than 3 percent. European markets declined, with London closing down more than 4 percent.

Related Links:

• The Street.com: Late Rally Falls Just Short
• MarketBeat: Panic vs. Capitulation.