U.S. Stocks Fall on Europe Woes After Last Week’s Rally

U.S. stocks fell, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rallied to its highest level since 2007, as concern grew over Europe’s debt crisis and manufacturing in the New York area shrank more than forecast.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) slid more than 0.6 percent after two weeks of gains.Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) fell 0.7 percent after being downgraded at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) Inc. lost 6 percent after its rating was cut by JPMorgan.Apple Inc. (AAPL) gained 1 percent as pre-orders of its iPhone 5 topped 2 million units in one day. Office Depot Inc. (ODP)rose 7.9 percent after Starboard Value LP took a stake in the company.

The S&P 500 slid 0.2 percent to 1,463.19 at 12:08 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 29.43 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,563.94. Trading in S&P 500 companies was down 6.1 percent from the 30-day average at this time of day.

“It looks like we need to take a smaller breather after the sizable rally that we’ve had,” Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab Corp., said in an interview from Austin, Texas. His firm has $1.83 trillion in client assets. “There’s the potential for a small pull-back, but I think we will move back into the bull territory later in the week unless there’s an unexpected negative news event.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-17/u-s-stock-index-futures-decline-after-s-p-500-rally.html