FIVE TRADING DAYS Dow Jones industrial average, five days  INVESTING TOOLS MANAGING YOUR MONEY: Sign up for our free e-mail newsletter. Every Friday, you'll get a week's worth of USA TODAY's personal finance news and columns. READERS' CHOICE: See the 50 stocks that appear most in USATODAY.com reader portfolios. YOUR PORTFOLIO: Create free portfolios at USATODAY.com to track your stocks or mutual funds. Click here to get started. STOCK, FUND, ETF SCREENERS: Market screener (most active stocks), mutual fund finder, ETF screener, intraday stock screener. ASK MATT ABOUT STOCKS: USA TODAY's Matt Krantz answers your questions daily at money.usatoday.com.

News that Bank of America needs another government cash infusion had sent stocks sliding until mid-afternoon. The Dow Jones industrials had been down more than 200 points and fell below 8,000 for the first time since Nov. 21.

Stocks rebounded and bounced between gains and losses as investors speculated about a Senate vote after the closing bell Thursday on whether to authorize use of the remaining $350 billion from the government's financial bailout fund. Observers say the outcome of the vote is too close to call. But investors are hoping additional money from Washington will help stabilize banks.

Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading, said the recovery in stocks is overdue given the market's steep slide the past week, and he said traders were looking for any reason to rally. He said investors might ultimately be disappointed by the government's efforts to boost the economy but that headlines about broad spending were enough to prod the market.

"That's the spark on top of the timber. That gets it going. That's all you need to get the market going," he said, referring to Washington's plans. "I think, bottom line, it's an oversold bounce. We'll see if it lasts."

Wall Street began the day nervous that the money given to banks might have prevented a collapse of some companies but has done little to repair their balance sheets. The federal government is considering a fresh multibillion-dollar aid package for Bank of America to help it absorb losses at Merrill Lynch, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions. The person said the new aid package could be modeled along the lines of the financial lifeline that was thrown to Citigroup Inc. in November.

Other media organizations have had similar reports of a potential aid package for the company.

There are also expectations that Citigroup will be announcing a further streamlining because of its ongoing problems and that banks will need more government help.

At the close of trading, the Dow rose 12.35, or 0.15%, to 8,212.49. The Dow closed down the past six sessions. Earlier in the session the Dow fell as much as 205 to trade below the 8,000 mark for the first time since Nov. 21. On Nov. 20, the Dow closed at its lowest level in more than five years.

Broader stock indicators rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.11, or 0.13%, to 843.73 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 22.20, or 1.49%, to 1,511.84.

Tech and small-cap stocks are often among the first places investors start buying when they think a recovery is at hand.

Bond prices were mixed as stocks pared their losses. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 2.21% from 2.20% late Wednesday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.11% from 0.10% late Wednesday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude fell $1.94 to $35.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Bank of America news more than offset any positives from a earnings report from JPMorgan Chase. The banking company managed to avoid a loss, reporting earnings of $702 million in the October-December quarter. Analysts had predicted the company would break even.

Still, Chief Executive Jamie Dimon called the quarter "very disappointing." The bank said it increased its reserves to cover potential loan losses by $4.1 billion. Increased losses from bad loans are likely if the economy deteriorates, which is a "distinct possibility," Dimon said.

JPMorgan is the first big U.S. bank to release fourth-quarter earnings, and analysts and investors are looking at it for signs of how the rest of the industry may be faring. The bank, which bought failing Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual last year, is viewed as one of the stronger players in the industry, so results from other big banks could prove worse.

Richard Sparks, senior equities analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research, said investors are alarmed by the troubles still facing banks.

"The whole concern that we've had all along had been whether the steps taken by the government would be enough or would be effective, and I think that now is becoming a widespread worry on the Street," he said.

"If they pulled out all the stops, is there a way to save them?" Sparks said, referring to the government.

On the Nasdaq, shares of Apple (AAPL) were the top drag after the iPod and iPhone maker said Chief Executive Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence due to health issues.

Economic news included a report by research firm RealtyTrac showing U.S. foreclosure activity jumped 81% in 2008, even though it slowed in the fourth quarter from the third.

The Labor Department said new claims for jobless benefits increased more than expected last week, after two weeks of declines. The department also said wholesale prices dropped for a fifth straight month as gasoline prices fell by a record amount. While the reports indicated that the economy remains in poor shape, investors seemed to look past the data.

Going into Thursday's session, the Dow and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index were down more than 9% over six days.

The slide put another dent in the market's push to recover from its Nov. 21 bear market low. Before Thursday, the benchmark S&P 500 was now up just 9% since that low after starting 2009 up more than 20%.

Investors, who have been selling stocks for much of the new year, are also awaiting an earnings report from Intel (INTC).

Intel, the world's largest maker of computer chips, has already warned investors that its fourth-quarter revenue will fall short of its initial estimates. The market is hoping to gain some sense of the company's outlook for the current year.

The market's late 2008 enthusiasm has been sapped by increasingly gloomy outlooks for companies from banks to retailers to energy producers. On Wednesday, a worse-than-expected report on retail sales and growing concerns about the financial sector sent the Dow down nearly 250 points, and left the other major indexes with a loss of 3%.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average dropped 4.92% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 3.37%.

Contributing: Reuters