Investors brushed off a government report that showed little evidence of rising inflation, driving stocks lower today. The dollar's continued weakness against the Japanese yen also undercut stocks.

At the close of trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 108.91, at 10,801.42. Broader stock indicators also closed lower, with the technology heavy Nasdaq composite index especially hard hit. The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 18.32 to 1,317.97, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 54.13 to 2,814.16.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a three-to-two margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,774 down, 1,195 up and 542 unchanged.

NYSE volume totalled 779.58 million shares at the close against 719.94 million in the previous session. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 1.91 to 436.33.