SHARP DROP SHAKES WALL STREET

A dramatic stock sell-offdrove the Dow Jones downby more than 130 points today in the most precipitous plunge in almost four years. While the index recovered to a more moderate drop of 57 points by the end of trading, Wall Street watchers feared that today's brief stampede, coming on top of a 50-point retreat yesterday, may indicate that the bulls are losing confidence. Triggered by a sell-off in technology stocks, trading hit the Nasdaq composite index proportionately harder, pushing it down 38 points. Today's drop followed Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's upbeat economic report to Congress this morning. "Jittery investors interpreted that to mean no more interest rate cuts by the Fed," explainedTIME's John Greenwald, "and that's not what they wanted to hear." Though Greenspan just last month expressed doubt in the economy's strength, today he called the outlook "encouraging, despite the inevitable risks." Noting positive trends in various economic indicators, the central banker also cited diminishing financial turmoil in Mexico as contributing to improved U.S. economic growth.