NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — It was yet another rough day on Wall Street on Wednesday, a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its biggest gain since early 2009.

The Dow took a nosedive late in the trading day to close down 519 points (4.6 percent), erasing Tuesday’s 429-point gain.

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The Nasdaq lost 101 points to close at 2,381.05 and the S&P 500 51 points to finish at 1,120.76.

“It seems like every day it’s something different. We’ve entered this new phase of volatility, where it’s really a trader’s paradise,” said Mark Newton, chief technical analyst at Greywolf Execution Partners, said.

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Europe’s debt problems fueled the sell-off and investors are concerned that France will be the next country to see it’s AAA credit rating downgraded.

“If overseas begins to weaken, U.S. is looking at a very long-term recovery. I mean, that doesn’t bode well for corporate earnings going forward,” trader Doreen Mogavero told CBS News’ Susan McGinnis.

Meanwhile, gold continued to shoot up and closed up 2.9 percent. Gold finished the day at $1,785.50 an ounce.

The Dow plummeted more than 300 points within minutes of the opening bell and was down as many as 468 points by late morning.

Tuesday’s positive day was what people were looking for after Monday’s plummet of 634 points. Monday was the first trading day since Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. one notch from its top AAA credit rating to AA+. Last week, worries about the slowing economy and Europe’s debt troubles also knocked down stocks.

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On Tuesday, the Dow’s point gain was its 10th-best in history. The Dow swung 600 points, from a 205-point decline to the 429-point gain in the hour or so after the Fed said it considered “policy tools” to help the economy.

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But the Central Bank also gave a dim outlook on the economy’s strength in its Tuesday statement. It said growth this year has been “considerably slower” than it expected and that it anticipates a slower pace of recovery over coming quarters.

As recently as June, the Fed said that the slowing recovery was due to temporary factors, such as high gasoline prices and the disruption to manufacturers following Japan’s March earthquake.

Are you concerned about Wall Street’s recent volatility? Who’s to blame for the current economic situation? Sound off in our comments section.