Stocks slump as market anticipates Fed rate cut

????Dow Jones Industrial Average:

Stocks slumped in late afternoon trading yesterday with the Nasdaq at lows unseen since December 1998, as investors betted that Wall Street would have to wait a while for another interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said the US economy appears to be slowing sharply, but he crushed investors's hopes when he left open the question of whether the Fed might lower rates again before its next scheduled meeting on March 20th.

By close of session the technology-dominated Nasdaq Composite Index lost 56 points to 2,151.82 after shedding almost 4.4 per cent on Tuesday. At one point during the session, the Nasdaq fell as low as 2,127.50, its lowest intraday trough since December 1998. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 141.60 points to 10,49.28. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 21.13 points to 1,236.81 teetering on the brink of a 20 per cent decline from all-time highs hit less than a year ago - a move widely seen as marking a "bear market".

"A lot of people were building a 50-basis-point cut into their expectations," said Kenneth Tyszko, equity portfolio manager at Oberweis Asset Management, which has $200 million under management.