Stocks zigzag in another volatile session

Wall Street zigzagged sharply Thursday, with the Dow Jones industrials briefly dropping below 8,000 and then rebounding as investors contended with a stream of negative economic news.

The fluctuations began early in the day after the Labor Department reported that the number of newly laid-off individuals seeking unemployment benefits jumped last week to a level not seen since just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

And there were more signs of a severe pullback in consumer spending that pummeled stocks earlier in the week. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. trimmed expectations for full-year earnings. And Intel Corp. late Wednesday cut more than $1 billion from its …