By DPA
Washington : US stocks dropped Wednesday as record high oil prices and a record low dollar erased strong gains made Tuesday.
Crude oil rose above $110 per barrel in New York trading and the dollar continued its weeks-long decline against the euro. The US currency has fallen 3.5 percent since Feb 26, Bloomberg News reported.
The three major stock indices had climbed nearly four percent Tuesday, the largest one-day jump in at least five years on the Fed’s new rescue plan.
Financial stocks fell one day after the US Federal Reserve said it would offer up to $200 billion in loans to banks struggling with record foreclosure rates, in an effort to keep the US economy out of a recession.
Merrill Lynch & Co and Goldman Sachs said Wednesday the Fed plan may not be enough to pull banks out of the credit crisis and halt lenders from freezing new mortgages.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 46.57 points, or 0.38 percent, to 12,110.24. The broader S&P 500 Index climbed was down 11.88 points, or 0.90 percent, to 1,308.77. The high-tech NASDAQ composite index lost 11.89 points, or 0.53 percent, to 2,243.87.
The US currency reached a new record low against the euro of 64.29 euro cents from 65.20 euro cents Tuesday, and against the Japanese currency to 101.53 yen from 103.45 yen.