Stocks were mostly lower yesterday after gyrating on both sides of unchanged as investors offered a muted reaction to the Federal Reserve's interest-rate cut and warning that the US economy remains at risk for a slowdown.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished with a loss of 37.30 points at 10,435.18, according to the latest data, and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 fell 5.69 points to 1,211.07. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 10.11 points to 2,074.73.
The central bank lowered its bellwether federal funds rate, charged for overnight lending between banks, by a quarter percentage point to 3.75 per cent and said it is prepared to cut rates further.
The market had been split over the size of the cut, with some expecting a half percentage point, which is meant to encourage consumers to spend more and prompt companies to go ahead with big-ticket projects.
Among active issues, Palm jumped 83 cents, or about 16 per cent, to $6.02. The premier maker of hand-held computers posted grim quarterly results compared to its year-earlier performance, bruised by slackening demand, oversupply and discounted prices.
But Palm said it expects to turn its situation around by early fiscal 2002.
