Stocks tried to make a major comeback this afternoon — and very nearly succeeded.

But the rally faded in the last hour of trading and will add to Wall Street’s jitters going into the weekend.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 36 points to 12,233, its sixth loss in the last seven trading sessions. The Nasdaq Composite was down nearly 10 points at 2,406, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 3.7 points at 1,403.

After the close, shares of Dell Inc. (DELL, news, msgs) fell after missing Wall Street revenue estimates. Earnings were better than expected.

Source: Market Dispatches - MSN Money

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street rebounded fitfully Wednesday from the previous session’s 416-point plunge in the Dow industrials as investors took comfort from comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke but still showed signs of unease about the economy.

Bernanke’s remarks to Congress that he still expects moderate economic growth gave some investors confidence to look for bargains. A recovery in some overseas markets following a worldwide selloff Tuesday also lent some support to U.S stocks, but the advance lacked some conviction — the major indexes fluctuated throughout the day, with the Dow rising as much as 137 points before pulling back and advancing again several times.

Link to Dow Ends Up 52, Nasdaq Up 8 After Plunge: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance