WALL Street stocks moved mostly lower after Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan again raised the possibility of a pre emptive interest rate hike to combat inflationary pressures.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell for the third straight losing session, shedding about 57 points. A big chunk of the blue chip barometer's loss came from Philip Morris, which sank the equivalent of about 22 Dow points after news that a rival cigarette maker had agreed to a settlement with 22 states suing the tobacco industry.

Broad market indicators ended mostly lower despite a rebound in the Treasury market from some early weakness.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a nearly five to three margin on the New York stock exchange, with 952 up, 1,562 down and 799 unchanged.

NYSE volume totalled 496.86 million shares, against 535.56 million in the previous session. The Standard and Poor's 500 stock list fell 3.12 to 782.65.