NEW YORK (AP) - A late afternoon slide pulled stock indexes lower after the Federal Reserve held off on any new steps to boost the economy. The Fed cautioned that strains in global financial markets still pose a danger, a nod to Europe's debt crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 66.45 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 11,954.94. The Dow dropped more than 70 points in the last hour of trading and had risen as high as 126 points earlier Tuesday after two strong auctions of European debt.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 10.74 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,225.73. The Nasdaq composite fell 32.99 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,579.27.