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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Stocks end lower despite better view from Fed

Anthony Rinaldi, left, of LaBranche & Co. and James Kay of J.P. Morgan Securities trade shares in Cemex, which was raising $1.55 billion to pay down debt, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams) (Henny Ray Abrams / Associated Press)
Sara Leproand Seth Sutel Associated Press
NEW YORK — The stock market is encouraged by the Fed’s latest improved assessment of the economy, but not enough to propel the Dow Jones industrial average past 10,000. Stocks have closed lower after the Fed’s economic statement Wednesday. The market initially blipped higher, bringing the Dow within 82 points of crossing 10,000 for the first time since October, but the average ended the day with a loss of 81. The Fed said the pace of economic activity has “picked up” since its last meeting in August. According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 81 to 9,748. The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 11 to 1,060, while the Nasdaq composite fell 14 to 2,131. Losing stocks outnumbered winners by about 3-to-2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.3 billion shares.