(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)In what was a quite turbulent session, US stocks settled mixed on Friday, with Dow swinging as much as 1,000 points in intraday trade. Recession fears and credit concerns still weighed upon the markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 128 points, (-1.49%), to finish at 8451.19. The S&P 500 shrank 10.6 points (-1.2%), to 899.32. The Nasdaq Composite gained 4.39 points, (-0.3%), to end at 1,862.96.

In the opening session, Dow plunged as much as 696 points or 8.11% to an intraday low of 7,882.51. The indices recovered from day's low in afternoon trade to post a rally of 322 points, only to succumb again to selling pressure in late session. Dow finished with a record weekly loss of 1,900 points or 18.2%, the worst in its history. S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite settled with a weekly loss of 18.2% and 15.3% respectively.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index or VIX, a popular measure of the implied volatility of S&P 500 index options also known as "fear index", shot up to an all-time intraday high of 76.94 on Friday.

On Friday, President Bush urged American people to have confidence in the economy. “This is an anxious time, but the American people can be confident in our economic future. We know what the problems are, we have the tools we need to fix them, and we're working swiftly to do so. Here's what the American people need to know: that the United States government is acting; we will continue to act to resolve this crisis and restore stability to our markets”.

According to reports, U.S. authorities are considering fresh measures to contain the turmoil in financial markets, including guaranteeing billions in bank debt and insuring all U.S. bank deposits for a temporary period. In a press conference, Paulson while giving details of the plan said that the government is “working to develop a standardized program that is open to a broad array of financial institutions”. He said the government wants to "do it right."Paulson also assured that the rights of the existing shareholders would be protected, and that the government would only make the purchases through a “broadly available equity program”, without any voting power "except with the market standard terms to protect our rights as investors."

Meanwhile the group of seven most industrialized nations, the G7 said that “urgent and exceptional action” is needed to stabilize financial markets. “We will continue to act in line with this solid anchoring of inflation expectations and the necessity, again, to deliver price stability”. The policy makers pledged to use all available tools to support financial institutions and prevent them from collapse.