Stocks pare back earlier losses

The Dow fell 100 points, to 11,139, which is a lot better than at the start of the session, when the index had fallen by more than 300 points. By closing above 11,090, the Dow barely skirts what would have been a dubious distinction: During the first three trading sessions of September, the index had never fallen by more than 4.5 percent. Still, it's the worst three-day September start since 1931, which is bad enough. The sell-off actually began overseas on Labor Day (new worries about the incomprehensible European debt situation), and then carried over into U.S. markets. The fact that traders say they're waiting for President Obama's jobs speech on Thursday gives you an idea of how emotions have taken over the jittery market. Does anyone really believe that will be a game-changer?