News of today's Fed interest-rate cut swept away a market rally, and stocks ended down. Language in the Fed statement indicating that further trims were unlikely spooked investors, the Wall Street Journal reports, though that news was expected. The Dow ended down 11.81 to 12,820.13; the Nasdaq was off 13.30 to 2,412.80; and the S&P down 5.35 to 1,385.59.
One stock manager warns the Journal that a period of inflation may be on its way, possibly driven by high prices overseas. "It's on the way, and it's not just a matter of high commodity prices," says Shigeki Makino of Putnam Investments. "It's labor and a lot of other things that are going up." (More stock market stories.)