Wall Street bought on the rumour and sold on the news yesterday, pushing stocks lower after the Federal Reserve delivered a widely expected interest-rate cut to prop up the flagging US economy.

Other investors were disappointed the cut wasn't deeper.

"But in the long term, market moves are driven by the profit outlook, simple as that . . . Now that they've cut (the Fed funds rate), I think that improves the profit outlook," said Mr Marci Rossell, corporate economist and investment spokesperson with Oppenheimer Funds.