The stock market behaved a lot like a bipolar teenager on Thursday. Shortly after the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged to 7,965.42, the market picked up and rallied to close at 8,835.25 -- which means there was a 911 point trading range today. (Conspiracy theorists could have a heyday with that one.)

Among the most volatile tech stocks: Apple shares fell as low as $86.44, but closed at $96.44; and IBM dipped down to $75.40, but rallied to $84.21 at close. And Microsoft and Intel were easily among the most actively traded stocks. On an average day, about 95 million shares of Microsoft change hands. On Thursday, roughly 148 million shares were traded. Similarly, the average daily trading volume on Intel shares is about 79 million, but 143 million shares were traded on Thursday.

The big question is whether the market has capitulated -- have we finally hit rock bottom? We probably won't know it until we've moved past the bottom. And some technical strategists say it could take many months for the market to bottom out, much less recover.

*Photo: *Flickr/Knitgirl63