Stocks ended lower in New York after a day of wide swings, as aggressive profit-taking in technology shares overwhelmed strength among the industrials. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 62.31 points to close at 9,304.50. The Dow erased a 91-point morning gain before briefly swinging back into positive territory in the afternoon as the Federal Reserve signalled that it had no intention of raising interest rates. But the 31-point gain could not hold as technology leader IBM was pounded, ultimately being responsible for nearly 24 points of the Dow's loss.

The rout in technology shares sent broad market indexes tumbling. The Nasdaq plunged nearly 83 points, its third-largest point drop ever. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 23.58 to 1,248.49 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 82.87 to 2,410.54. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a nine-to-five margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,100 up, 1,952 down and 525 unchanged.