US stocks move lower

US investors punished stocks once again today, directing their anger mostly at blue chips as they grappled with disappointment over the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy.

The Dow Jones industrials tumbled 233 points to finish at 9,487, the fifth time in nine sessions that the index has dropped by triple digits.

Broader market indicators also fell. The Nasdaq composite index closed off a more moderate 27.21 at 1,830.23, but the Standard & Poor's 500 fell 20.48 to 1,122.14.

Stocks extended the decline that began on Tuesday when the Fed cut interest rates by 0.5%. Investors believed that a more aggressive 0.75 point reduction was needed to boost the slowing economy, and the Fed's failure to deliver a bigger cut prompted the market to sell heavily.

Wall Street has been increasingly downtrodden since last week's steep drop that gave the Dow its worst-yet weekly point drop of 821.21.

Investors had been bidding up safer blue chip stocks, believing they remained relatively intact and that riskier technology issues suffered the brunt of slower economic growth.

However, more evidence that slower growth is hampering business hurt blue chips today. Procter & Gamble, a Dow stock, slipped $2.35 to $63.55 on a Wall Street Journal report that the maker of Crest and Jif is considering cutting 10-20% of its global work force.

Other consumer product makers fell, including Kimberly Clark, down $2.38 at $67.02. But blue chip losses were spread across sectors. Merck fell $2.15 to $68.10, while General Motors declined $1.56 to $53.93.

Meanwhile, the tech sector was more mixed. IBM advanced 91 cents to $89.21, while Microsoft tumbled $2.56 to $50.13. Both are Dow components.

Despite the selling, some analysts were somewhat hopeful stocks would soon move higher. They noted that in today's dealings the tech sector held up better than Old Economy stocks, which tend to fare better in bear markets.