"THE DOW JONES Industrial Average slumped below the 8500 level yet again, but it and other major indexes still finished April with their biggest monthly gains this year.</br></br>In heavy end-of-month trading, the Dow industrials slipped 22.90 points, or 0.27%, to 8480.09, up 6.1% for April and up 1.7% since the year began. It was their biggest monthly gain since October.</br></br>Stocks had bounced up and down throughout the day following a soft reading on manufacturing activity in the Chicago area and an inconclusive comment on the economy from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.</br></br>Speculation that the Fed might cut target interest rates as soon as next week to stimulate the economy helped push Treasury bond prices up sharply. Stocks appeared poised for a small gain until a surge of month-end profit-taking knocked them down just before regular trading ended.</br></br>""You would expect to see some people step in and make some sales. A lot of these stocks are up 25%, 35%, 40% since the beginning of March,"" said Robert Harrington, head of listed trading at brokerage firm UBS Warburg."