New York  - Health care companies led stocks lower on Wall Street Thursday amid concerns that reforms proposed in the Obama administration's 2010 budget would hurt the industry.

Insurers, health care providers and pharmaceutical firms fell amid fears that President Barack Obama would trim payments through Medicare, the government's health plan for senior citizens, Bloomberg financial news reported. The budget proposal includes a more than 600-billion-dollar "down payment" on health care reform, which Obama expects to be addressed by legislators this year.

The health care declines off-set gains by the financial sector in response to a potential 750 billion dollars in extra aid to struggling banks included in the 3.5-trillion-dollar federal budget proposal.

But a report by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) late in the afternoon cut back those gains. The agency said the industry had seen its first collective quarterly loss in 18 years and that its list of problem institutions had risen 47 per cent to 252 lenders.

General Motors shares fell 6.7 per cent to 2.38 dollars after the carmaker reported a 30.9-billion-dollar loss in 2008, the second- biggest in its 100-year history. Losses were 9.6 billion dollars in the fourth quarter.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 88.81 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 7,182.08. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 12.07 points, or 1.6 per cent, to 752.83. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 33.96 points, or 2.4 per cent, to 1,391.47.

The US currency dropped against the euro to 78.47 euro cents from 78.61 euro cents on Wednesday. The dollar rose against the Japanese currency to 98.44 yen from 97.45 yen. (dpa)