The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 16.91 at 11,122.42, after falling 60 points earlier in the session.

Wall Street's broader indicators followed the Dow's path, advancing late in the session. The Nasdaq composite index rose 38.54 to 2,282.02, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index moved up 4.12 to 1,293.17.

Analysts said that the market's fluctuation mostly came amid unease over the health of the economy.

Advancing issues traded nearly evenly with decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume was 1.31 billion shares, compared with 1.37 billion Wednesday.

Ohio company visits closed mill

Former King Mill employees are hoping a visit by officials from Cincinnati's Standard Textiles to Augusta on Thursday will be the next step toward the mill's reopening.

The 306 workers were left unemployed May 4 after the mill's owner, Spartan International, went out of business.

Standard Textiles has 1,100 employees worldwide and is a producer of health care textiles, as was King Mill.

Jim West, the president of the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce, said ''there is a strong possibility it will work out.''

Reports that an offer has been made, however, were not confirmed Thursday.

''I understand there have been meetings with creditors,'' said Dayton Sherrouse, the executive director of the Augusta Canal Authority. ''They wanted to have everything finalized by the end of the month.''

UPS unveils freight, customs unit

ATLANTA - United Parcel Service Inc. said Thursday it is forming a new business unit to handle freight forwarding and customs brokerage as it completes its $437 million acquisition of Fritz Companies Inc.

The new division, which has not been named, will include San Francisco-based Fritz and seven smaller companies UPS has acquired in the past 18 months.