Qa'dah 20, 1431 H/Oct 28, 2010, SPA -- Stocks reduced larger losses Wednesday, with technology shares recording small gains, as investors lowered their expectations for an aggressive move by the U.S. Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy. Stocks had been climbing for weeks on speculation that the U.S. central bank will announce another round of asset purchases at the end of its next policy meeting on November 3. But excitement over quantitative easing, as the policy is known, fell after a Wall Street Journal report raised questions about the size and timing of any Fed action. In U.S. economic news, orders for durable goods rose 3.3 percent in September after falling 1.3 percent in August, but orders excluding transportation items fell a bigger-than-expected 0.8 percent. A second report showed sales of new homes jumped 6.6 percent in September. The U.S. dollar continued to strengthen versus the euro and the yen. Gold futures fell $15.30 to $1,322.60 an ounce. Light sweet crude oil for December delivery fell 59 cents to $81.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. government's weekly petroleum inventory report showed that oil and gasoline supplies rose more than expected. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 43.18, or 0.4 percent, to 11,126.28. Bank shares gained, with Bank of America advancing 2 percent and J.P. Morgan Chase rising almost 1 percent. Shares of Comcast rose nearly 3 percent after the telecommunications giant posted better-than-expected quarterly results. Decliners were led by energy companies, with Chevron and Exxon Mobil each down about 2 percent. Industrial firms Caterpillar and Boeing also fell sharply. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.19, or 0.3 percent, to 1,182.45. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 5.87, or 0.2 percent, to 2,503.26. Shares of Broadcom jumped 11 percent after the chipmaker reported strong quarterly results and said it expects growing demand for wireless services to support future profits.
