Stocks continued their slide on Wall Street yesterday as investors remained unsettled by growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at least once more this year, initially at the meeting of its Federal Open Market Committee on August 24th.

At the close of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 52.55 - or by 0.5 per cent - at 10,655.15. The blue-chip index had been down as much as 158 at one point.

Broader stock indicators also fell, although they mirrored the Dow in inching back from steep early losses.

The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 16.37 to 1,281.43, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 29.48 to 2,489.50.

The NYSE composite index fell 6.60 to 603.80, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 9.57 to 768.30. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 3.07 to 422.82.