New York Report: Wall St slides on Fed fears
US stocks posted their largest drop in a month yesterday as traders locked in recent gains after a provisional budget deal out of Washington removed one of the near-term reasons for the Fed to keep up its current pace of economic stimulus.
The bipartisan budget agreement reached late Tuesday would end three years of political confrontations and fiscal instability in Washington that climaxed in October with a partial government shutdown. A vote in the US House of Representatives could come as soon as Thursday. The final Fed policy statement of the year is expected on 18 December, at the end of a two-day meeting.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 129.60 points or 0.81 per cent, to end at 15,843.53. The S&P 500 slid 20.40 points or 1.13 per cent, to close at 1,782.22. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 56.677 points or 1.4 per cent, to finish at 4,003.813.