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Stocks off sharply on profit worries; Dow down 133

Associated Press

NEW YORK – Wall Street mounted a sharp reversal Thursday, with the Dow Jones industrials dropping 133 points as concerns over corporate profits and economic growth reasserted themselves.Wednesday’s rally, which sent the Dow up 128, proved short-lived as Pfizer Inc. withdrew its profit forecasts for 2006 and 2007, increasing investors’ worries about the vulnerability of corporate profits. Intel Corp. spurred such jitters earlier this week in lowering its forecast for sales of its computer chips.Members of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate-setting committee also fed inflation concerns, leading investors to wonder whether a continued rise in interest rates would slow the economy too much and lead to more corporate profits shrinking.”Yesterday was a pretty good up day, but we were well oversold, so we shouldn’t probably get too excited about that,” said Linda Duessel, market strategist at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh. “This is just the beginning of the heavy earnings results from the third quarter, and from everything we’re seeing so far, the results are pretty mixed, but guidance in general is kind of cautious for the fourth quarter.”According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 133.03, or 1.28 percent, to 10,281.10 after gaining 128 points on Wednesday.Broader stock indicators also pulled back. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 17.96, or 1.5 percent, to 1,177.80, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 23.13, or 1.11 percent, to 2,068.11.Vail, Colorado


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