US stocks ended mixed, as the Federal Reserve policy committee met to grapple with economic and financial concerns dogging the recession struck economy.

Stocks extended their gains to a second day on Thursday after an upbeat profit report from Best Buy Co and new unemployment numbers added to a sense that the economy might be finding its footing.

The Fed gave the market a jolt this week by announcing plans to buy Treasury securities to revive lending and the economy. Wall Street initially jumped on the move but fell on Thursday on worries about the dollar and inflation.

US stocks tumbled in choppy trade to 12-year lows amid worries over a deepening recession and more unsettling news in the financial sector.

Investors' despair about financial companies and the recession brought the US's Dow Jones industrial average on Monday to another unwanted milestone: its first drop below 7,000 in more than 11 years.