AROUND THE WORLD'S MARKETS: NEW YORK

WALL STREET retreated from early highs, tracking bonds lower in late morning trading. By midday the Dow Jones was down 13 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 10,897, after earlier gaining more than 100 points on optimism that the Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates in October.

The early ebullience came after a key inflation indicator showed only mild gains, with lower price increases than Wall Street expected.