New York ? Wall Street wobbled again Tuesday, dropping sharply at the opening, stabilizing on soothing words from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and then falling sharply again in late afternoon amid investors’ continuing anxiety about the market’s own dynamics.

The Dow Jones industrials closed its seventh-straight losing session down more than 160 points, a slight improvement over an earlier loss of 232, while the tech sector gave up a respectable gain and also finished lower.

“People are just fed up. … It is a very emotional market,” said Barry Hyman, chief investment strategist at Ehrenkrantz King Nussbaum.

Investors remained nervous after eight weeks of heavy selling, including big price swings Monday, when the Dow fell as 439 before recovering to a loss of 45 by the close.

The Dow finished Tuesday down 166.08, or 1.9 percent, at 8,473.11. The Dow has fallen more than 900 points in seven-straight losing sessions, four of which have been marked by triple-digit drops. The last time the Dow had a longer unbroken losing stretch was the eight trading days before and after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.