FYI -- VIEWS ON FED RATE CUT:
Tuesday September 29, 2:38 pm Eastern Time
INSTANT VIEW-US stocks fall after Fed cuts rates
NEW YORK, Sept 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell Tuesday afternoon after the Federal
Open Market Committee's much-anticipated move to cut interest rates by 25 basis points to
5.25 percent.
The market had been hoping for a 50 basis point cut.
The following are comments from U.S. stock analysts:
BILL MEEHAN, CHIEF MARKET ANALYST AT CANTOR FITZGERALD:
-- ''A lot of people had been hoping we would get discount cut as well. Stocks won't take this well as people had been hoping
for a half a percentage cut in interest rates.''
HUGH JOHNSON, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, FIRST ALBANY CORP:
"Obviously there's some expectation of 1/2 a percent, so we're seeing some knee jerk reaction (to the downside) but not much.
This is right as expected. I would not expect it to move the markets sharply one way or another. It certainly leaves room for
more Fed action.
''If we see further weakness or further fallout from the financial crisis the Fed clearly would not hesitate to move another 25
basis points.''
JOHN MANLEY, SR. EQUITY STRATEGIST, SALOMON SMITH BARNEY
-- ''It looks like the low end of expectations. The conventional wisdom is it's going to sell off, but I don't think that much.
Whether it was 25 basis points of 50 basis points, in two days it's not going to matter much. If they start slowly they can do
more later on.''
''The important thing is the shift in the way they are viewing the economy. They now think there is enough risk from the outside
and enough risk of slowing to the domestic economy that they now have the bias to continue cutting rates.''
''I think it would be extremely pessimistic to think that this is the only cut,'' Manley said.
CHARLIE CRANE, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST AT KEY ASSET MANAGEMENT:
"This is not unexpected but I think investors would be well served to remember the old adage: Be careful what you wish for,
sometimes it comes true.
''The Fed is not just lowering rates for the sake lowering rates or to bail out some hedge fund. They are doing it because they
see warning signs of a slower economy ahead. And this means the environment for corporate profits is anything but rosy out
there,'' Crane added.
CHARLES REINHARD, MARKET STRATEGIST, ABN AMRO:
''It's no surprise. It was the middle of road what we thought they would do. Because (the Fed) cited the reason for the cut is
the global crisis, it gives them the firepower in the backdrop to do more than one cut.''
The Fed said the action was taken to ''cushion the effects on prospective economic growth in the United States of increasing
weakness in foreign economies and of less accommodative financial conditions domestically''.
The Dow, up 14 points before the FOMC outcome was announced, fell more than 80 points on the rate cut news.
At 1436 EDT/1836 GMT, the Dow was off 88 points at 8020.
The broader market also slipped, with the Nasdaq off 14 at 1724, and the S&P500 stock index fell three points to
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