Wall Street, Stock Market | featured news

Wall Street closed out its strongest quarter in nearly three years Friday, leaving investors wondering if the market can continue to deliver strong gains in the weeks and months ahead.

Stocks suffered their biggest losses in three months Tuesday, the first hiccup in a strong and steady rally to start the year. Wall Street worried about the global economy and waited while Greece pressured the last investors to sign on for its bailout.

Wall Street celebrated Columbus Day with a 330-point buying binge on the Dow as traders around the world breathed a sigh of relief that European leaders pledged to bolster their banks and the markets look ahead to the start of earnings season.

Signs that the nation's massive services sector continues to expand, albeit at a slower pace, helped push stocks into positive territory by midmorning on Wall Street Wednesday.

Investors hoping for relief from the tumultuous market swings of the past few months should double up on antacid and hang on: Economists predict more gyrations in the days and weeks ahead.

Stocks ended their worst quarter since the depths of the 2008 credit crisis, crippled by Europe's debt debacle, a U.S. credit downgrade and a sputtering global economy.

Bottom Line: Stocks rose in mid-morning trade on Wall Street Tuesday as investors grew more optimistic that the Federal Reserve would announce new moves to stimulate the economy.

Wall Street ended a fourth week of losses on a down note on Friday as most buyers left the market before the weekend on growing fears of another U.S. recession and destabilization in Europe's financial system.

Wall Street stocks plummeted Monday morning on the first-ever downgrade of the United States' credit rating, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging as much as 380 points in the first hour of trading.

Investors fled Wall Street in the worst stock-market selloff since the middle of the financial crisis in early 2009 in what has turned into a full-fledged correction. The Dow and the S&P tumbled more than 4 percent on Thursday and the Nasdaq lost 5 percent on fear the United States is staring at another recession and that Europe's sovereign debt crisis is swallowing two of its largest economies.