Stocks continued to struggle this afternoon, unable to withstand sell-off of stocks around the world.Technology and metals shares were the leading the U.S. market lower, but the weakness was quite broad. More than 330 of the 500 stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 index were lower this afternoon. The index itself was off 5.4 points or 0.4% to 1,262.The Dow Jones industrial Average was trying to recover. A loss as big as 80 points at 2 p.m. ET had been shaved to nine points, 0.1%, at 11,121 by 3:15 p.m. Alcoa (AA, news, msgs) was the biggest loser so far today, falling 3.6% to $30.83. At 2:30 p.m. ET, the Nasdaq Composite index was down 26 points, or 1.2%, to 2,168, led by a sell-off in the semiconductor sector. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX.X) was down 4.9% today. The broader market started the day lower due to weakness in Asia, and tried to fight back a number of times, but couldn't quite break into the green.Inflation fears persisted as investors abandoned commodities and equities for bonds, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note down to 5.04% from 5.05% on Friday.Just about anything metals was down. Copper producer Phelps Dodge (PD, news, msgs) was off 5.5%, and U.S. Steel (X, news, msgs) was down 6.2%.Oil prices started to rise this afternoon, and that seemed to reverse losses in energy stocks. Once down as much as 73 cents a barrel, New York light crude futures were up $1.32 a barrel at $69.85 per barrel just before the 2:30 p.m. close.Commodities began the day with a huge global sell-off, especially in copper, but recovered in the U.S. markets. The selling was prompted by speculators "exiting commodities due to fears that rising inflation in the U.S., China and India will slow demand growth for industrial and agricultural commodities," Addison Armstrong, ETF manager at TFS Energy, said in a research note.Gold futures recovered in the afternoon, closing at $657.70 an ounce, up 20 cents from Friday. Copper dipped 2.9 cents to $3.44 per pound in New York.