Wall Street recap

Brighter Fed forecast helps market pare losses

NEW YORK Abrighter economic forecast from the Federal Reserve helped the stock market pare losses that followed uninspiring reports on consumer sentiment and housing.

Stocks slipped from 13-month highs in light trading yesterday as gains in health-care companies helped offset drops in financial and industrial stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 17 points a day after jumping by 133. The market strengthened in afternoon trading as the Federal Reserve released minutes from its latest meeting, during which it pledged to keep interest rates low for the foreseeable future and said inflation remained at bay.

That followed the Conference Board's report that its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 49.5 in November from a revised 48.7 in October. While better than expected, the report shows that consumers remain gloomy heading into the holiday season. A reading above 90 means the economy is on solid footing.

The government also revised its calculation of third-quarter economic growth down to 2.8 percent from its original estimate of 3.5 percent.

Howard Ward, chief investment officer of the GAMCO Growth Fund, said a warning from China's central bank that commercial banks there should control their lending also weighed on the market, particularly financial stocks.

The Dow yesterday ended down 17.24, or 0.2 percent, to 10,433.71 after falling as much as 91 points.