Fed’s caution hits Wall Street
US stocks fell for a second day yesterday as investors contemplated a world without monetary stimulus and a poorly received bond auction in Spain suggested the effects of Europe’s funding operations were waning.
Selling was broad as indexes tracking nine of the 10 S&P 500 sectors ended lower, with financial, materials and technology shares the worst performers. The S&P’s financial index fell 1.6 per cent. Shares of Morgan Stanley, often sensitive to concerns over Europe, dropped 3.5 per cent to $18.69.
Stocks continued to feel the fallout from minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting, published on Tuesday. They showed the Fed’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee was moving away from introducing more monetary stimulus.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 124.80 points, or 0.95 per cent, at 13,074.75. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 14.42 points, or 1.02 per cent, at 1,398.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 45.48 points, or 1.46 per cent, at 3,068.09.
McDonald’s lost 1.9 per cent to $97.48 after Goldman Sachs removed it from its “conviction buy” list.