SLIDE TO 940.54 IS SHARPEST SINCE JAN. 20
Stock market prices broke on a wide front yesterday amid mounting fears that interest rates would remain high and eventually damage the economy without achieving further success in reducing inflation. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 18.36 points, to 940.54, in the biggest one-day decline since Jan. 20, when it fell 20.31 points. The decline brought the index closer to its lowest level of this year, 931.57, which it reached on Feb. 13. Many investors were discouraged by President Reagan's apparent rejection of pleas for lower American interest rates made by leaders of the major industrial countries at the economic summit meeting under way in Ottawa. Industrialized nations have been adversely affected by the high United States interest rates that have caused an outflow of investment funds from their countries.