Wall Street falls after 4 up days on Fed's comments

US stocks dropped after the Federal Reserve acknowledged the sluggish pace of the US economic recovery without hinting at further plans for stimulus.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 80.34 points, or 0.66 percent, to 12,109.67 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 8.38 points, or 0.65 percent, to 1,287.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 18.07 points, or 0.67 percent, to 2,669.19.

European shares fell on concerns that the US Federal Reserve will not be able to further prop up a weakening recovery, while Philips Electronics was a major faller after a profit warning.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares provisionally closed down 0.4 percent at 1,092.29 points and has lost 6 percent since May, following a slew of weak U.S. economic data and worries that Greece may default.

The Nikkei stock average climbed 1.8 percent, hitting a three-week high as short-covering kicked in after Greece's government survived a confidence vote crucial to avoiding default, with recent decliners such as Sony Corp scoring big gains.

The benchmark Nikkei share average rose 1.8 percent to 9,629.43, breaking resistance at 9,600 and marking the biggest daily gain in three weeks. The broader Topix climbed 1.6 percent to 828.99.