Stocks Plunge After Rate Cut

Investors had hoped for half-point cut
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 11, 2007 3:54 PM CST
Stocks Plunge After Rate Cut
A trader at left looks at the Fed interest rate decision as others work on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007. The Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate by one-quarter of a percentage point Tuesday, trying to keep the country out of recession. The reduction in the federal...   (Associated Press)

Stocks plunged today after the Fed cut a key interest rate by only a quarter-point, Bloomberg reports. Investors who had hoped for a half-point fear the smaller cut won't do enough to stave off a recession. "They're thinking that the Fed doesn't get it," said a strategist. The Dow fell 294.26 to 13,432.77, the Nasdaq 66.6 to 2,652.35, and the S&P 500 38.31 to 1,477.65.

The news hit financials hard. "The market was looking for the Fed at this meeting to show a more aggressive stand either with the discount window or with the Fed funds rate and the statement,'' says a strategist. "It got neither.'' Texas Instruments and AT&T were both up slightly on raised profit forecasts. (More stock market stories.)

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