国际英语新闻：Wall Street tumbles as financials dive

NEW YORK, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street tumbled on Tuesday due to a dive of financial stocks as investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meeting on key interest rates.

    The financial sector of the S&P 500 shed 3.5 percent while the KBW Bank Index was down 4.4 percent after Rochdale Securities analyst Richard Bove painted a gloomy outlook for the banking industry.

The stocks were also affected by a report from the Congressional Oversight Panel, which highlighted the risks of toxic assets still on the books of many banks.

A trader works at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the U.S., August 11, 2009.

    An unexpectedly large drop in wholesale inventories also raised investors' worries about an economic recovery. The Commerce Department said the wholesale inventories fell in June for the 10th consecutive month.

    The U.S. Labor Department said on Tuesday that productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, rose at an annual rate of 6.4 percent in the second quarter.

    Sprint Nextel, a major U.S. mobile phone service provider, lost ground as Piper Jaffray cut its recommendation of Sprint Nextel to"underweight" from "neutral." And Yum! Brands, the restaurant company, was downgraded to "neutral" from "buy" at UBS.

Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the U.S., August 11, 2009.

Moreover, Exxon Mobile and Chevron weighed on energy producers, as oil tumbled for a fourth straight day.

    Traders also kept a close eye on the Fed's two-day meeting that kicked off on Tuesday. It is widely expected the Fed will hold interest rates steady at near zero when they end their meeting on Wednesday.

    The Dow Jones industrial average was down 96.28 points, or 1.03 percent, to 9,241.67. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 12.77 points, or 1.27 percent, to 994.33. The Nasdaq composite index slid 22.51 points, or 1.13 percent, to 1,969.73.