U.S. markets rise, then tumble

After an early climb on Wall Street, stocks tumbled following the lead of the falling Asian and European stock markets.

Global markets plummeted today following the Dow Industrial's 357-point plunge yesterday. After steadily rising as much 78.53 points, the Dow pulled back and fell more than 100 points. It closed at 8051.68, down another 1.4 percent. The Nasdaq also retreated after rising as much as 12.68, and finished at 1639.68, down 46.73 points, or a decline of nearly 3 percent.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei Index closed at a 12-year low, falling 498.16 points, or 3.46 percent, to 13915.63. Hong Kong's Hang Seng also fell to 7829.74, or 1.18 percent.

In Europe, Germany's DAX fell 1.43 percent to 4988.25. Russia's turmoil is likely to impact Germany the hardest because Bonn is one of the biggest lenders to Russia. London's Financial Times index was down 150.6 points at 5217.9.

Despite the falling market, the semiconductor sector finally saw some light and registered a mixed session after days of across-the-board drops.

Alliance Semiconductor rose .0615 to 2.50, while PMC Sierra was up 2.75 at 33.25. After early gains, Advanced Micro Devices wound up down .1875 at 15.1875.

On the downside, Atmel fell 2.5 to 6.75 and Neomagic was down .4375 at 13.18753. Rambus took the biggest hit, down 5.1562 at 55.75.

Internet stocks were mostly lower, with online auctioneer Onsale taking the largest hit in early trading and finishing down 1.875 at 18.258. Amazon fell steadily and wrapped up at down 13.1094 at 105.8906. CNET: The Computer Network, publisher of News.com, was up 1.375 at 42.875.