Wall Street down as investor await details of rescue plan

NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) — Wall Street went moderately lower Monday, as investors cautiously awaited details about the U.S. government’s plan to buy 700 billion U.S. dollars in banks’ mortgage debt.

The market soared Friday on the government’s new plan to remove toxic assets from bank’s balance sheet. Investors are closely watching how successful the plan will be in loosening up the credit markets.

Investors also digested other stunning corporate news. Late Sunday, the Federal Reserve approved Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last two major investment banks on Wall Street, to transform to bank holding companies. That will allow the companies to set up commercial banks that will be able to take deposits and means there is no investment banks now.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan’s largest bank, agreed to buy 10 percent to 20 percent of Morgan Stanley.

In addition, Microsoft Corp. plans to buy back 40 billion U.S. dollars in stock and raise its dividend. Standard & Poor’s gave its highest possible rating to Microsoft, the first company to get the AAA rating in a decade.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose 2.67 dollars to 107.22 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones fell 61.40 to 11,327.04. Broader indexes also moved lower. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dipped 8.47 to 1,246.61; and the Nasdaq fell 17.85 to 2,256.05.