Wall Street stocks ended only modestly lower yesterday after rebounding from a sharp slide as fresh inflation worries surfaced on news that US raw materials prices jumped in July. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 28.57 points down at 8,194.04 after tumbling nearly 120 points after yesterday morning's report by the National Association of Purchasing Management.

Declines outnumbered advances by a 7-to-4 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,064 up, 1,841 down and 498 unchanged.

The Standard and Poor's 500-stock list fell 7.15 to 947.14, and the NYSE composite index fell 3.51 to 490.99.The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.51 to 1,594.32.