Stocks rebounded slightly during early trading today, but gains diminished by 10 a.m. Iowa time and by 10:30 a.m., the stock market was back on its losing streak. Yesterday, the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted nearly 300 points to finish at 6,763.29, less than half the peak of 14,164.53 that was reached on Oct. 9, 2007.

However, today marks another low for the markets, with the Dow hovering at 6,748.88 as of 10:32 Iowa time.

In early trading, the Dow had gained 80 points, or 1.1 percent, but by 10:32 a.m. Iowa time, it had slipped to a loss of 14.41 points, or 0.21 percent. This morning’s small gain came after yesterday’s session closed at the lowest point since April 25, 1997. The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed yesterday at its lowest point since Oct. 28, 1996.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 17 points, or 1.3 percent, during early trading, but tapered off to a gain of 9 points, or 0.68 percent by 9:15 a.m. Iowa time. By 10:38 a.m., the Nasdaq was down .06 percent to 1,322.01. Yesterday, the Nasdaq composite lost 55 points, or 4 percent, to end at 1,322.85.

Yesterday’s stock losses were in response to American International Group Inc. (AIG) posting a historic quarterly loss, as well as a continuation of the worries about the financial sector and the economy, said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

“There are reverberations from AIG and also the continued uncertainty around the financial sector as a whole, which is the chorus that never ends,” Stone said. “That’s paired with the second chorus that never ends – the weakness of the global economy. It’s reflected in the weakness in the industrial, material and energy stocks today.”

AIG was trading at 45 cents per share at 10:43 Iowa time, up more than 7 percent from yesterday.