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Markets & Stocks
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Stocks perplexed by rate cut
Major indexes turn positive, then drop after Fed cuts interest rates by half a point.
November 6, 2002: 2:34 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. stocks briefly gained ground Wednesday afternoon after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a half-percentage point. But the Fed's decision to change its bias to neutral seemed to puzzle investors and the market soon turned down.

Around 2:25 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average (down 63.18 to 8615.09, Charts) and the Nasdaq composite (down 12.94 to 1388.23, Charts) both wiped out the gains scored immediately after the Fed's announcement. The major indexes were little changed before the 2:15 p.m. ET decision.

Central bankers cut the target for the federal funds rate, an overnight lending rate, to 1.25 percent. It was the first cut this year after 11 reductions in 2001.

In a statement, the Fed said that economic data continued to show weakness in spending, productivity and employment.  Top of page




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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.