WASHINGTON — Even an orchestrated round of rate cuts by the world's central banks was not enough to stem the bleeding on Wall Street.

The Federal Reserve, desperately trying to jump-start the lending that keeps the U.S. economy moving, on Wednesday dropped its closely watched federal funds rate to 1.5 percent. The cut from 2 percent took the rate to its lowest level in more than four years.

In an unprecedented coordinated move, central banks in England, China, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland and the European Central Bank also cut rates after a series of high-stakes phone calls over several days between Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his counterparts.

Today rates in South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan were also trimmed and Asian markets appeared to find their feet after a brutal round of selling Wednesday.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended morning trading up 1.25 percent, a day after it plummeted 9.4 percent in its biggest one-day drop in 21-years. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.2 percent following the interest rate cut, while China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index had gained 0.8 percent by late morning.

Wall Street stocks spent most of Wednesday afternoon in positive ground but succumbed to investor fears over the state of the economy in the session's waning minutes.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 189 points, or 2 percent, to close at 9,258. It was the sixth straight day of losses for the Dow. The index has shed more than a third of its value, nearly 5,000 points, since its all-time high, set one year ago Thursday.

The day's losses were lighter for the Nasdaq composite index and the Standard & Poor's 500.

The Fed acted in concert with the European Central Bank to make emergency interest rate cuts after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001. But Wednesday's cuts were unprecedented with the number of nations that participated, the Fed said.

For millions of Americans, the Fed's cut means borrowing money becomes cheaper. Home equity loans, credit cards and other floating-rate loans all fluctuate depending on what the Fed does.