U.S. Stocks Fall as Fed Minutes Show Support for Tapering

Bloomberg, (21/8) -- U.S. stocks fell, giving the Dow Jones Industrial Average its longest slump in 13 months, as minutes of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting showed officials support stimulus cuts this year if the economy improves. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.6 percent to 1,642.80 at 4 p.m. in New York, the lowest since July 8. The Dow dropped 105.44 points, or 0.7 percent, to 14,897.55. The measure retreated for a sixth day, the longest losing streak since July 2012. The S&P 500 fluctuated after the Fed released its minutes at 2 p.m. in Washington, with the gauge at one point erasing losses of as much as 0.8 percent. Growing concern that the Fed would reduce stimulus this year contributed to the index’s 3.4 percent drop from a record close on Aug. 2 through yesterday. Fed monetary support helped propel the benchmark gauge up more than 150 percent from its bear-market low in 2009. he Federal Open Market Committee’s minutes from the July 30-31 gathering released today showed officials were “broadly comfortable” with Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s plan to start reducing bond buying later this year, with a few saying tapering might be needed soon. FOMC participants continued to expect economic growth to pick up in the second half of 2013 and “strengthen further.” After the July meeting, policy makers affirmed a pledge to continue stimulus until seeing signs “the outlook for the labor market has improved substantially.” July hiring data, released after the meeting, showed the smallest jobs gain in four months and the lowest jobless rate in more than four years.