US stocks stumbled on yesterday on talk the Federal Reserve's policy-setters could be having second thoughts about lowering interest rates after last year's series of cuts fuelled a speculative buying frenzy on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 71.58 points, or 0.7 percent, at 9,274.12.

In the broader market, declining issues swamped advances 2-to-1 on active volume of 839 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

The technology-laced Nasdaq composite index slumped 46.46 points, or 1.8 percent, to 2,463.43, a day after setting its third straight record.

Wall Street was unwilling to extend January's run-up, which had propelled all of the major market indexes to new highs.

"Over the last few days we had seen institutional support, which we are not seeing today," said Mr George Rodriguez, senior vice president at Guzman & Co. There was concern that the Fed may have run out of reasons to lower interest rates.