US stocks drop despite Greenspan’s assessment

Wall Street wobbled again today, dropping sharply at the opening, stabilising on soothing words from Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and then falling sharply again in late afternoon amid investors’ continuing anxiety about the market’s own dynamics.

The Dow Jones industrials closed the seventh straight losing session down more than 160 points, a slight improvement over an earlier loss of 232, while the tech sector gave up a respectable gain and also finished lower.