NEW YORK, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street slid for a six consecutive session on Wednesday as the global coordinated rate cut failed to ease investors' worries over U.S. economic condition.
Initially the market gained on the news that the Federal Reserve and six other major central banks from around the world slashed interest rates by 50 basis points. The coordinated rate cut, first time since November 2001, aims to restore confidence in the market and prevent financial crisis from becoming a global economic recession.
But stocks tumbled soon after a short-time rally, as investors still worried about the global financial system.
Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned in a speech that the financial turmoil "will not end quickly." He also said it may take several weeks before the Treasury Department begins buying troubled assets from financial firms under the 700-billion dollar bailout plan which was approved by the U.S. Congress last Friday.
To add to investors' worries over the economy, major U.S. retailers reported a disappointing sales in September with 74 percent of retailers missed their profit target.
The National Association of Realtors said pending home sales jumped unexpectedly 7.4 percent for August, much better than a 1.8percent decline economists had predicted.
The Dow Jones slid 189.01 to 9,258.10. Broader indexes also ended lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 11.29 to 984.94;and the Nasdaq shed 14.55 to 1,740.33.
