Toronto stocks dropped lower, today, after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s announcement of a quarter-percentage point rate cut failed to sooth worried investors. The Fed’s moved dropped the U.S. federal funds rate — charged for overnight lending among banks — to 3.75 percent, the lowest in more than seven years. The move was perceived by analysts as a clear signal that the Fed is ready to do more to boost the U.S. economy out of the doldrums.

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index fell about 40 points right after the Fed’s announcement. It ended the day 81.41 points lower at 7530.60.

Overall, nine of the TSE’s 14 sub-indexes slipped, with the financial services sector off 2.37 percent, and the oil and gas sector down 3.28%. The banking sector was hit during early trading by concern over bad loans in Toronto-Dominion Bank’s U.S. portfolio. On Tuesday, TD announced that it had increased its second-half loan loss provisions sharply to $620 million. TD’s shares fell $1.53 to $38.17. Royal Bank of Canada fell was $2.01 to $46.49, while Bank of Montreal dropped $1.34 to C$38.70.

The tech-heavy industrial products sector bucked the negative trend, nudging up 0.26%.

On the CDNX, trading was active on a volume of 34.2 million shares worth 12.4 million dollars, with 170 advances, 244 declines and 552 issues unchanged. The CDNX Index closed down 34.38 at 3196.55. The most active issue was Genoil Inc. It added two cents, ending the day at 28 cents.

The Canadian dollar, which had neared four and a half month highs against the U.S. dollar earlier on Wednesday, closed flat, as investors reacted to the Fed’s modest interest rate cut. It closed at US65.94 cents.

South of the border, stocks finished mixed. Markets swung back-and-forth after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates. by a quarter of a percentage point to help boost the sagging U.S. economy and left the door open for more reductions.

As with the TSE, stocks fell immediately after the Fed made its cut, but revived a bit, later in the afternoon. The Nasdaq composite index rose 10.12 points to 2,074.74. The Dow Jones industrial average, however, fell 37.6 points to 10,434.84, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index sank 5.69 points, to 1,211.07.