Wall Street retreated Wednesday, with investors giving back most of the gains made the previous session, with losses in financials and commodity stocks leading the decline. Falling oil and gold prices did little to relieve inflationary concerns and instead sparked a big sell-off in oil-services and metal and mining stocks. Stocks rallied Tuesday, with the Dow recording its biggest one-day point gain in over five years after the Federal Reserve (Fed) announced a significant reduction in short-term interest rates. But stocks fell Wednesday after investors tried to push stocks higher in the morning on better-than-expected earnings from Morgan Stanley and news that regulators will let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy more home loans. Light sweet crude oil for April delivery fell $4.94 to $104.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the biggest decline in dollar terms since early 1991, when a U.S.-led coalition launched the first Gulf War. Morgan Stanley reported lower quarterly sales and earnings, due partly to big losses related to bad mortgage bets. However, the investment bank's results surpassed estimates, echoing Tuesday's news from Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. Morgan Stanley shares rose 4.5 percent. Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rose on reports the government is loosening restraints on the lenders that will allow them to provide as much as $200 billion more in funding for home loans. J.P. Morgan Chase shares rose slightly, but other financial shares fell in active trading, including Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, and Bear Stearns. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 293.00, or 2.4 percent, to 12,099.66. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 32.32 or 2.4 percent, to 1,298.42. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 58.30, or 2.6 percent, to 2,209.96. The New York Stock Exchange composite index fell 276.94 to 8,549.50. The American Stock Exchange composite index fell 82.43 to 2,186.38. And the Russell 2000 index fell 17.80 to 664.13.
