Wall St nervous after slide

Stocks backpedalled yesterday as investors banked some profits after lifting the Dow Jones industrial average more than 300 points higher over the last three days. The Dow ended down 127.98 points at 7,893.25. Wall Street was also nervous heading into today's session, which has tended to bring big losses recently. Last Friday, the Dow plunged 247 points in the second biggest point drop since the 1987 crash.

In the broader market, declining issues swamped advances 2-1 on moderate volume of 494 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 21.95 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 1,606.75.

Investors were also preoccupied with a drop in bonds and renewed weakness in the dollar.

The dollar was hurt by mounting concerns that Germany may be preparing to raise interest rates, which combined to knock bonds into a similar tailspin.