US stocks closed lower Wednesday in choppy trading after investors refocused on economic problems a day after a huge rally driven by a Federal Reserve interest rate cut and pledge to revive the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 102.67 points (1.15 percent) to 8,821.47 at the closing bell. The tech-rich Nasdaq fell 10.58 points (0.67 percent) to 1,579.31 and the Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index retreated 8.92 points (0.98 percent) to 904.26. Investors encountered “stiff selling pressure” as the session entered its final leg, said analysts at Briefing.com. “That has caused the major indices to surrender their gains and slip back into negative territory,” it said, citing brief gains chalked up in early trading. Stocks slid lower “as worries about the economy return and replace the euphoria that followed the Fed's rate decision and statement that it will use all available means to support growth,” Charles Schwab & Co. analysts said. On Tuesday, the Fed slashed its key federal funds rate to virtually zero for the first time and pledged extraordinary efforts to get credit flowing and stimulate the world's biggest economy, stuck in recession for the past year. European shares closed lower on Wednesday as concerns about further losses at major banks persisted and grim data renewed worries about the economic outlook. European stocks closed lower as banks weighed heavily with BNP Paribas revealing a 11-month loss at its investment banking unit, hit by exposure to an alleged fraud by US financier Bernard Madoff. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed down 0.76 percent at 828.53 points. The DAX index ended at 4708.38 points, down 21.53 or 0.46 percent. The CAC-40 index closed at 3241.92 points, down 9.74 or 0.30 percent. The Swiss market index closed at 5548.2 points, down 18.94 or 0.34 percent. The All Share Mibtel index closed at 15103 points, up 39 or 0.26 percent. Only Britain's FTSE 100 index ended higher. The index closed up 15.11 points, or 0.4 percent, at 4,324.19 in a choppy session, after gaining 0.7 percent on Tuesday. More than 1.1 billion shares changed hands, compared to Tuesday's 929 million and last week's daily average of 1.12 billion. However, Asian markets managed to close in positive territory with the Nikkei average climbing 0.52 percent in see-saw trade, supported by gains in banks such as Sumitomo Mitsui Financial after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near zero. The Nikkei added 44.50 points to 8,612.52, after rising more than 2 percent in morning trade. The index fell nearly 2 percent in the afternoon as the yen crawled towards a 13-year high against the dollar, stoking worries over Japanese exporters' profits. Hong Kong shares rose 2.18 percent with Hang Seng Index ended 330.31 points higher at 15,460.52 as investors ignored weak housing and inflation data from the United States. Sydney stocks closed 0.4 percent higher, off the day's high as a hitch with a Commonwealth Bank of Australia equity raising cut short the market's celebration of a US Federal Reserve interest rate cut. The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 14.4 points higher at 3,570.6. In Johannesburg, South Africa's rand firmed against the dollar and stocks raced to an 11-week closing high as Anglo American's plans to slash capital expenditure spurred some miners and banks rose ahead of a futures close-out. The All-share index closed at 22409.26 points, up 603.43 or 2.77 percent. The All Gold index closed at 2378.23 points, up 11.24 or 0.47 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 17000.26 points, up 415.43 or 2.50 percent.
