U.S. Stocks Fall; Alcoa, Qualcomm Decline After China's Plunge (Eric Martin)

  U.S. stocks drop the most since November.

  Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks dropped the most since November as a plunge in Chinese shares sparked a global selloff and raised concern that investors will dump equities after a four-year bull market.

  The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell for a fifth day, its longest losing streak since March 2004, as commodity producers, consumer and technology companies led losses in companies that rely on demand from China. Shares of Alcoa Inc., the world's biggest aluminum maker, and Qualcomm Inc., the second-largest maker of mobile phone processors, declined.

  Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index slid 2.8 percent and emerging markets tumbled. Russian shares fell from an all-time high, while Brazil's Bovespa Index sank 4 percent. U.S. Treasuries rose on increased demand for debt securities amid the drop in emerging-market assets and signs of a slowing economy after durable-goods orders fell more than forecast in January.

  ``With some potential signs of cracks, be it China or the durable goods orders, this might be setting us up for a cooling or a pullback in the market,'' said Jason Cooper, who helps manage $2.5 billion at 1st Source Investment Advisors in South Bend, Indiana. ``I'm much more bearish than bullish right now.''

  The S&P 500 retreated 15.53, or 1.1 percent, to 1433.84 as of 9:54 a.m. in New York after earlier losing as much as 1.2 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 123.69, or 1 percent, to 12,508.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 38.90, or 1.6 percent, to 2465.62.

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