Markets Slump as Budget Deal Is Weighed Stocks slid on Wednesday after lawmakers in Washington reached a provisional budget deal, increasing investor expectations that the Federal Reserve may wind down its stimulus in the coming months. In afternoon trading, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was 0.7 percent lower, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.4 percent and the Nasdaq composite was off 0.9 percent. A bipartisan budget deal announced in Congress late on Tuesday, though modest in spending cuts, would end three years of impasse and fiscal instability in Washington that culminated in October with a partial government shutdown. While the agreement removed uncertainty hanging over markets, some expect it will strengthen a view that the Federal Reserve may soon start to scale back its $85-billion-a-month stimulus program. The Fed's final policy statement of the year is expected on Dec. 18, at the end of its final meeting of the year. "There is some profit taking, but also there is always going to be fear about what the Fed is going to do," said Randy Warren, chief investment officer of Warren Financial Service in Exton, Pa. The market is always concerned they are going to get the timing and the quantity wrong. Most Asian markets lurched lower overnight as investors booked profits on a range of once-crowded positions, and European stocks drifted into losses as the trading session came to an end. Euro zone countries edged closer to agreeing on a long-awaited plan to close ailing banks and at least partly sharing the costs involved. In currency markets, the dollar was broadly firmer in reaction to the budget deal in Washington, though it struggled against the yen as a drop in the Nikkei in Tokyo drove up the Japanese currency. The focus in Europe remained on the strong euro as it sat just off a six-week high versus the dollar, at $1.3762, and a five-year high versus the yen hit on Tuesday. Although Wall Street's benchmark S.&P. 500 hit a record close earlier in the week, investors have hesitated to make big bets ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting, in the absence of market-moving economic data. The Federal Open Market Committee meeting is set for Dec. 17-18. In company news, Costco Wholesale shares were flat after the company's first-quarter profit missed Wall Street estimates because of lower gasoline prices and weak foreign currencies. Home Depot shares were up 0.8 percent after the company said it expected sales growth of approximately 5 percent in 2014. The mining equipment maker Joy Global forecast 2014 earnings below analysts" estimates after reporting a quarterly profit that fell short of expectations as miners cut spending. The stock fell 3.9 percent. European markets, higher for much of the day, slumped at the end of trading. The FTSE 100 in London closed off 0.2 percent, Frankfurt's DAX was down 0.4 percent, while the CAC 40 in Paris ended 0.1 percent lower. Asian markets closed lower, with Japan's Nikkei off 0.6 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.7 percent lower. United States benchmark crude fell 63 cents, to $97.88 a barrel, as traders mulled news of progress toward opening a pipeline to transport oil from storage centers in the Midwest to refineries in the Gulf. The news presaged a further drawdown in crude oil inventories for a second straight week. At the same time, the prospect of increased supply of Brent crude narrowed the spread between the two oil contracts to a month's low. Brent crude for January delivery was 21 cents lower, at $109.17 a barrel.