While it was another down day for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite actually broke a string of seven down days and posted a modest gain: The index rose 4.39, or 0.3 percent, to 1,649.51. The index nonetheless finished the horrific week with a loss of nearly 298 points, or 15.3 percent. At one point today, the index touched as low as 1542.45, stretching the loss for the week to just over 400 points, or nearly 21 percent. Astonishing.

One interesting development in today’s whipsaw session was the emergence of what appears to be some selective bottom-fishing. Apple (AAPL) was the most obvious example; the stock rebounded $8.06, or 9.1 percent, to $96.80, aided by some bullish comments from Oppenheimer as well as anticipation of the company’s pending launch of new laptops at an event on Tuesday.

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The Nasdaq Composite today plunged 199.61, or 9.14 percent, to 1983.73, as investors fled equities amid a growing sense of crisis in the financial sector. Stocks started off sharply lower this morning; the slide accelerated after the House rejected a proposed $700 billion buyout of the financial sector.

The Nasdaq’s slide is the eighth largest ever in terms of points, and the third biggest ever on a percentage basis. The index has been tracked since 1971.

The only two days which were worse on a percentage basis include the 11.4 percent slide by the index on Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987, and the 9.7 percent drop on April 14, 2000.

While selling was widespread, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite suffered the worst decline today of the major indexes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 748 points, or 6.7 percent, to 10,394.92, the worst day ever for the index in terms of points. The S&P 500 dropped 102.7 points, or 8.5 percent, to 1,110.27.

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Solar stocks are having another rough day, one which looks all that much worse with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up well over 200 points. A number of analysts this morning wrote notes on their trips to the recent European solar conference in Valencia, Spain. There were no bombshells that I found; but there does seem to be some concern about the pricing outlook for 2009, as Reuters noted today.

Richard Keiser, technology strategist at Bernstein Research, wrote this morning that an “astounding number” of solar panel companies demonstrated products at the show–and offered aggressive expansion plans. He says that suggests fears of commoditization and oversupply “are well founded.”

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