STOCKS slipped yesterday as protests against austerity measures in Europe brought new worries about the region's financialsystem.

The dollar fell further against other currencies as traders anticipate more action by the Federal Reserve to push U.S. interest rates down. Gold continued to climb past US$1,300.

European markets fell as demonstrators gathered in Brussels, where the European Union is based, and in several of the bloc's member countries to protest austerity measures aimed at preventing another crisis like the one that required a bailout of Greece earlier this year. The protests raised concerns that countries like Spain will not be able to implement policies required to heal their bloated public finances.

Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis, said the protests in Europe suggest those countries will have trouble implementing austerity measures and that that's spooked markets there.

"Governments will have more difficulty making cuts to get their budgets in order," she said.

U.S. stocks swooned this spring as a fiscalcrisis in Greece appeared to be spreading to other weak European economies like Portugal and Spain. A relative calm in European markets since then has allowed U.S. stocks to rise sharply.

Most sectors fell on the stock market except for energy, which rose after crude oil prices gained.

Schlumberger Ltd., Occidental Petroleum Corp. and other companies rose after the price of crude oil jumped on news that inventories fell last week. Benchmark crude for November delivery rose US$1.68 to settle at US$77.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Wednesday's decline in U.S. stocks marked another pause in a monthlong rally that has made this September one of the strongest for U.S. stocks in history.

With only one trading day left this month, the Dow Jones industrial average is on track for its best September since 1939 with a gain of 8.2 percent so far. It's still up only 3.9 percent for the year.

Trading was relatively subdued with no major economic reports or corporate earnings due out yesterday.

"The big drivers of the market were just absent today," said Kim Caughey, an equityresearch analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh. "Everyone is sitting around waiting for earnings season to begin."

The Dow lost 22.86, or 0.2 percent, to close at 10,835.28

The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 2.97, or 0.3 percent, to 1,144.73, and the Nasdaq composite fell 3.03, or 0.1 percent, to 2,376.56.

Rising stocks narrowly outpaced falling ones on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1 billion shares.

Bond prices edged lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged up to 2.50 percent from 2.47 percent late Tuesday.

There's a growing certainty within the bond market that the Federal Reserve will attempt to spur economic activity through pushing long-term interest rates down further. To do that, the Fed would buy more Treasurys, lifting bond prices and lowering yields. That would also keep downwardpressure on the dollar.

Schlumberger rose US$1.23 to US$61.52, while Occidental Petroleum rose US$1.12 to US$76.63.

Gold fell rose US$2 to US$1,310.30, a day after settling above US$1,300 for the first time.

The euro rose to as high as US$1.3647 yesterday, its strongest point since mid-April. In late trading in New York, the euro was worth US$1.3643, up from US$1.3567 late Tuesday.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
• system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
• federal [´fedərəl] a.联邦的，联邦制的 (初中英语单词)
• european [juərə´pi:ən] a.欧洲的 n.欧洲人 (初中英语单词)
• greece [gri:s] n.希腊 (初中英语单词)
• investment [in´vestmənt] n.投资；(时间等)投入 (初中英语单词)
• relative [´relətiv] a.有关系的 n.亲属 (初中英语单词)
• sharply [´ʃɑ:pli] ad.锋利地；剧烈地 (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• barrel [´bærəl] n.(琵琶)桶；圆筒 (初中英语单词)
• industrial [in´dʌstriəl] a.工业的，产业的 (初中英语单词)
• absent [´æbsənt, əb´sent] a.不在的 vt.使缺席 (初中英语单词)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
• pittsburgh [´pitsbə:g] n.匹兹堡 (初中英语单词)
• waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
• volume [´vɔlju:m, ´vɑljəm] n.卷；书籍；体积；容量 (初中英语单词)
• pressure [´preʃə] n.压榨 vt.对...施压力 (初中英语单词)
• anticipate [æn´tisipeit] vt.预期；指望；期待 (高中英语单词)
• crisis [´kraisis] n.转折点；危机 (高中英语单词)
• implement [´implimənt] n.工具 vt.执行 (高中英语单词)
• portugal [´pɔ:tjugəl] n.葡萄牙 (高中英语单词)
• delivery [di´livəri] n.送交；分娩；交货 (高中英语单词)
• relatively [´relətivli] ad.比较地；相对地 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• certainty [´sə:tənti] n.确实(性)；确信 (高中英语单词)
• downward [´daunwəd] a.下降的，向下的 (高中英语单词)
• brussels [´brʌslz] n.布鲁塞尔 (英语四级单词)
• petroleum [pi´trəuliəm] n.石油 (英语四级单词)
• fiscal [´fiskəl] a.财政的 (英语六级单词)
• earnings [´ə:niŋz] n.收益；报酬；获得 (英语六级单词)
• equity [´ekwiti] n.公平；公正 (英语六级单词)
• narrowly [´nærəuli] ad.勉强地；严密地 (英语六级单词)