New York ? Wall Street fell victim to a late-day sell-off Tuesday after Federal Reserve policy-makers decided not to cut interest rates, rattling investors who were hoping for more aggressive action.

Analysts blamed the stock drop on traders who, in the absence of other news, had been focusing for days on the move by the Fed. When the market began to fall shortly after the policy-makers’ announcement, computer-generated trading exacerbated the sell-off.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 206.50, or 2.4 percent, to 8,482.39.

Broader stock indicators also fell sharply. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was down 19.59, or 2.2 percent, at 884.21, and the Nasdaq composite index was down 37.56, or 2.9 percent, at 1,269.28.

“It’s the old story of sell on the news,” said Larry Wachtel, a market analyst. “Today was selling on the news because there’s nothing coming along in the dog days of August that’s going to change the psychology.”