Stocks slipped yesterday as investors pulled some money off the table after big gains this week, while the market showed its vulnerability to air-travel scares with losses incurred after a shutdown of Atlanta'a airport due to a security breach.

In the preceding three trading days, the Dow had risen 318 points, or 3.3 per cent. For the week, the Dow ended with gain of 2.7 per cent, the Nasdaq rose 3.8 per cent and the S&P 500 gained 1.6 per cent.

In the early afternoon, Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport was shut down after a man ran past a security checkpoint and down an escalator used by arriving passengers, according to an airport official. Officials said they had not captured the man, but had security film of him.

Also weighing on yesterday's market was new data showing US industrial output last month took its biggest dive in nearly 11 years and extended a string of monthly declines that was the longest since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Federal Reserve said yesterday.