Stocks slump; traders fear stimulus cut
NEW YORK – The stock market is pulling back from the record high it reached a day earlier as traders worry that the Federal Reserve could start pulling back on its economic stimulus next month.
Twitter was one of the few standouts, gaining 73 percent on its first day of trading.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 152 points, or 1 percent, to 15,593 Thursday.
Other indexes fell even more. The Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 23 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,747, its biggest decline since August. The Nasdaq composite fell 74 points, 1.9 percent, to 3,857.
Investors bet that surprisingly rapid growth in the U.S. economy in the third quarter could prompt the Fed to reduce its huge bond purchasing program as early as next month, sooner than many had anticipated.