In the afternoon the Nasdaq Composite Index briefly turned positive and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose to break-even after news that Greece will get 5.2 billion euros in emergency aid. Both fell back in late trading.

The turmoil in Europe has driven Wall Street's slide and more investors were hedging against potential further losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a sixth straight day and the S&P 500 touched a two-month low before cutting losses.

"It's a very difficult market to trade in. I'm advising my clients to just hedge out all the way into July because we are going to see some heightened volatility like today for awhile," said Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.

The CBOE Volatility index, Wall Street's "fear gauge," rose 5.8 percent to 20.15, the highest close in two months.

The yield on the 10-year Spanish bond climbed above 6 percent, seen as a troublesome level among investors, after Spain said it will demand banks set aside another 35 billion euros ($45 billion) against loans to the ailing building sector. Huge bank losses have raised fears that the country may need an international bailout.

Despite the late-day rebound, eight of 10 S&P sectors ended the day lower, and nearly two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Dow industrials finished down 97.03 points, or 0.75 percent, at 12,835.06. The S&P 500 was down 9.14 points, or 0.67 percent, at 1,354.58. The Nasdaq Composite fell 11.56 points, or 0.39 percent, at 2,934.71.

The S&P financial sector index was hurt by the news about Spanish banks, closing down 1.1 percent.

U.S.-listed shares of Banco Santander SA fell 6 percent at $6.01. The FTSEurofirst 300 index ended at its lowest level in four months.

Walt Disney Co. reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations late on Tuesday on strong theme park attendance and cable advertising revenue. Shares of Disney, a Dow component, rose 1.6 percent to $45.02, after earlier hitting a lifetime high at $45.80. The success of its superhero movie, "The Avengers," also helped Disney's stock.

Macy's Inc. earnings rose more than expected, but the stock fell 3.7 percent to $38.05 on disappointment that the department-store chain didn't raise its outlook.

With 441 of the S&P 500 companies reporting results through Wednesday morning, 66.7 percent exceeded estimates, according to Thomson Reuters data. That was down from more than 80 percent at the start of earnings season.

Volume was 7.79 billion shares on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE Amex, above the daily average of around 6.8 billion.