Wall Street down after previous big rally

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

NEW YORK, Dec. 17 (Chinese media) -- Wall Street opened moderately lower Wednesday, after Morgan Stanley reported larger-than-expected losses.

Morgan Stanley posted a loss of 2.37 billion U.S. dollars for the fiscal fourth quarter, wider than the most pessimistic analyst's estimate. Morgan Stanley's share declined more than four percent in early trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than four percent on Tuesday and other indexes gained more than five percent, as the Federal Reserve cut its federal funds rate target to a range of zero to 0.25 percent. Therefore, it was not surprising that investors cashed out on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones lost 77.74 to 8,846.40. Broader indexes also moved lower. The Standard Poor's 500 index dipped 10.13 to 903.05, and the Nasdaq slipped 17.13 to 1,572.76.