NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks slipped Wednesday morning after a key measure of inflation in the morning's reading on second-quarter productivity revived concerns about the economy.

The Nasdaq composite (down 17.58 to 2,188.12, Charts) lost 0.9 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average (down 41.39 to 11,427.89, Charts) and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (down 6.30 to 1,306.95, Charts) index both saw smaller declines.

Stocks were vulnerable to a little pullback this week after last week's big runup and an unusually strong August that saw the Dow flirt with recent 6-1/2 year highs.

The morning's productivity report seemed to do the trick. Second-quarter productivity was revised up to 1.6 percent from an initial read of 1.1 percent, as economists were expecting. However, unit labor costs - an indicator for wage inflation - rose a greater than expected 4.9 percent, raising the red flag for pricing pressure.

Gains in August had been fostered by relief about falling oil prices, the Fed's decision to halt its more than two-year-old interest-rate hiking campaign and a sense that the economy was slowing, but not heading into a recession.

Meanwhile, inflationary pressures seemed to be contained. But investors are worried that if inflation is not moderating, the Fed may eventually have to start raising rates again.

Treasury prices slumped Wednesday morning, as traders took profits off the recent run in the wake of the productivity report. The decline raised the yield on the 10-year note to about 4.82 percent from 4.78 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In corporate news, late Tuesday Ford Motor (up $0.19 to $8.58, Charts) said Boeing (down $0.11 to $75.25, Charts) executive Alan Mulally will take over CEO duties from Bill Ford, who will remain the chairman. Shares of the struggling automaker gained 2.5 percent Wednesday morning, while Boeing shares were little changed.

Also after the close Tuesday, Intel (down $0.28 to $19.71, Charts) said it was cutting around 10 percent of its work force, or 10,500 jobs, by the middle of 2007, confirming speculation.

The cuts are part of a bigger restructuring plan intended to save the company about $2 billion. Intel shares lost about 2 percent Wednesday morning.

The August services index report from the Institute for Supply Management is due shortly. The Fed's beige book read on economic activity is due this afternoon.

U.S. light crude oil for October delivery continued to decline in electronic trading. Prices have been slipping since the announcement Tuesday of the discovery of a deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico, which raised hopes about an increased source of domestic oil production.

COMEX gold for December delivery fell $2.80 to $644.10 an ounce.

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