The Dow and S&P 500 dipped into negative territory late on Friday in a volatile session that saw large swings in the indexes, as worries about the economy caused investor skittishness.

But just as quickly as it gave up its early afternoon sharp gains, the Dow rebounded from a slight decline and turned modestly higher again with less than 45 minutes to go until the closing bell.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 17.79 points, or 0.16 percent, at 11,401.47, quickly retracing a loss of about 0.4 percent.. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 6.67 points, or 0.56 percent, at 1,193.40. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 31.92 points, or 1.25 percent, at 2,524.47.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)