U.S. stock exchanges fell by more than 1.5%

DJIA index fell 1.51% to 11149.80 points. The index of wide market S & P 500 lost 1.56% and was at 1159.27 points. NASDAQ index of technology companies fell by 1.95% – to 2419.63 points. Markets expect that on Friday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will announce the intention of the regulator on a new phase of the quantitative easing program to stimulate the economy. In addition, a significant increase in stock indexes prevents the negative statistics on the labor market of the country. The number of initial claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. for the week ended August 20 rose to 5000 – to 417 thousand. Thus, the data were worse than expected: experts expected reduction rate in 3000 – up to 405 000 with unrevised figure of 408,000. DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average, Dow Jones industrial average) – the average movement in share prices of 30 largest industrial corporations. S & P 500 (Standard and Poor's 500 Index) – index of stock prices of 500 largest companies by market capitalization. NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation, automated quotation of the National Association of Securities Dealers) – an index of technology companies. It is calculated on the basis of quotations of ordinary shares of all companies (U.S. residents and foreign), traded in the OTC system, NASDAQ, weighted by market capitalization. See the exchange rates