U.S. stock markets recovered at the close of trading Friday, after falling sharply in a day of volatile trading that followed steep losses on Asian and European stock exchanges.
The Dow and the NASDAQ posted modest losses, while the S & P 500 managed a slight gain. Earlier, Hong Kong's key index was off two-point-nine percent while London was off three-point-seven percent.
Stocks have been falling in recent days as investors grow more worried that problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage market might cause lenders to tighten lending standards. That would make it harder for consumers to buy homes or for companies to borrow the money needed to expand their business. The U.S. Federal Reserve and central banks in Europe and Japan have been trying to reassure investors that there will be plenty of credit by injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into the banking sector.