Stocks Slump Again Amid Nervousness About Fed Minutes
BLUE CHIPS extended their slump into a second day, as investors bit their nails ahead of today's release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve interest-rate meeting.</br></br>Investors are nervous because the Fed changed the wording of its post-meeting statement last month, suggesting growing concerns about inflation. People fear the minutes will indicate building pressure among Fed policy makers to raise interest rates more sharply. Many people simply are avoiding stocks, and volume -- 1.22 billion shares on the New York Stock Exchange and 1.33 billion on the Nasdaq Stock Market -- was the year's lightest at both markets.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 12.78 points, or 0.12%, to 10448.56, down 3.1% so far this year. More stocks fell than rose on the Big Board. But gains in drug and financial stocks helped the broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index inch up 0.01 point -- less than 0.001% -- to 1181.21, off 2.5% this year.</br></br>"What I think has really been hurting the market is the Fed. They are talking about raising interest rates more," to control inflation, said Todd Leone, head of listed trading at New York brokerage firm SG Cowen. "Now we will see what the Fed was thinking, if they are really seeing inflation."</br></br>Investors also await quarterly profit announcements, with General Electric and Citigroup reporting Friday.