Stock prices were in and out of negative territory all day on Thursday before rallying in the final of trading.

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Buying came in spurts and then often quickly evaporated as investors fretted that the economy is either in a recession or headed for one. Investors were gravitating toward big-name stocks seen as safer bets -- tech and small-cap stocks ended the day with declines.

Wall Street is living up to predictions that trading will remain volatile as investors try to test whether the market has formed a bottom after this month's huge declines.

The Dow closed 172 points up at the 8,691 level while the Nasdaq composite index is down 0.73 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index has a gain of 1.3 percent.

News that hundreds of companies reported grim third-quarter results and issued murky forecasts drove those numbers downward. Signs continue that the economic slowdown is taking a toll on balance sheets despite recent improvements in the world credit markets.

Meanwhile, senior Treasury official said the department intends to get a program to help struggling homeowners revise mortgages up and running soon.

Neel Kashkari, who is heading the government's $700 billion financial rescue effort, told Congress that the Treasury is working hard on the plan. It could include setting standards for changing mortgages to make them more affordable and giving loan guarantees to banks that meet them.

Kashkari told a Senate hearing that "we are passionate about doing everything we can to avoid preventable foreclosures."

Earlier, in testimony he was giving to the House Oversight Committee, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan blamed the country's financial problems on heavy demand for securities backed by subprime mortgages by investors who did not worry that the boom in home prices might come to a crashing halt.

Greenspan, who headed the nation's central bank for 18½ years, said that the current financial crisis is a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami" which will have a severe impact on the U.S. economy, driving unemployment higher.

He said in testimony prepared for Congress that he and others who believed lending institutions would do a good job of protecting their shareholders are in a "state of shocked disbelief."

Government regulators have come under sharp attack for the current crisis, and some will get their say Thursday morning.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman blasted credit rating agencies for giving great ratings to securities that didn't warrant them. He said it put the entire financial system at risk.

Waxman's panel will also hear from Treasury Secretary John Snow and ex-SEC chairman Christopher Cox.

House Republicans are urging creation of a blue-ribbon panel to delve into the economic crisis and come up with ways to prevent it from happening again.

The role of federal regulators is also the focus of a Senate hearing.

Recession Fears Rile White House

The Bush administration is bracing for more signs of an economic downturn.

Press Secretary Dana Perino said economic growth figures due out next week are likely to be dismal, given the financial meltdown of recent weeks.

She said it's still not clear if there's a recession, but adds conditions will be tough on employment and earnings.

A top Bush adviser has said that with unemployment already over 6 percent nationally and higher in places, the recession has already arrived in some parts of the United States.

Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso issued a statement last weekend that said the first such summit would focus on progress being made to address the current crisis and reforms needed to avoid a repetition of the problems.

The later summits will be designed to implement specific steps on the principles of reform.

Americans Uneasy About Immediate Future

Americans' views on the economy's future are a mixed bag in a new survey.

An Associated Press-GfK poll suggested that people are skittish about the economy's immediate future. But it's a different story when they're asked to peer further down the line.

Despite experts' talk of recession, most expect the economy to generally be better and the stock market to be rising three months from now.

But majorities also doubt unemployment will fall or home values will rise by then. People are split over whether their personal finances will improve.

Extend the timeline to a year, and the survey shows the public's mood grows cheerier. Most said they expect more jobs and higher real estate values. They also think their own financial situations will be better a year from now.