NEW YORK, New York - The global meltdown in stocks continued on Thursday, while the soaring U.S. dollar hurdled new multi-decade highs.

"We have had big moves," UBS's UK Chief Investment Officer Caroline Simmons, told Reuters Thursday. "And when the market falls it does tend to fall quite fast."

Volatility again was prominent Thursday with all the major indices reaching well into the red, but by day's end buyers emerged to trim losses, and in the case of the Nasdaq, eked out a small gain.

"Even if you say we're in a bear market, there are rallies within bear markets that can be very sharp," Truist's Keith Lerner told CNBC Thursday. "I think, at least short-term, and given how oversold we are and given that we're starting to see people nibble at some of these areas that have been the most beaten up, I think that's at least a silver lining in a sea of red and gloom over the last couple of days."

After being down more than 250 points earlier, the Dow Jones industrials recovered to be down 103.81 points or 0.33 percent at 31,730.30, at the close.

The Standard and Poor's 500 dipped 5.10 points or 0.13 percent to 3,930.08.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 6.73 points or 0.06 percent to 11,370.96.

The U.S. dollar was raging again Thursday, crushing the euro down more than a full cent to 1.0376. The British pound plummeted to 1.2191. The Swiss franc fell to 1.00377.

The Canadian dollar was weaker at 1.3050. The Australian dollar dived to 0.6849. The New Zealand dollar sank to 0.6237.

Only the Japanese yen held its own, trading in a tight, firm range around 128.34.

On overseas equity markets, the CAC 40 in Paris dropped 1.01 percent. The German Dax fell 0.64 percent. London's FTSE 100 declined 1.56 percent.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed 464.92 points or 1.77 percent to close Thursday at 25,748.72.

The Australian All Ordinaries sank 137.80 points or 1.89 percent to 7,166.60.

China's Shanghai Composite edged down 3.71 points or 0.12 percent to 3,054.99.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 declined 55.81 points or 0.50 percent to 11,177.36.

South Korea's Kospi Composite fell 42.19 points or 1.63 percent to 2,550.08.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong dived 444.23 points or 2.24 percent to 19,380.34.