U.S. Stocks Fall, Sending Dow to Worst Weekly Drop Since August (Nick Baker)

  Stocks retreated this week after a government report showed higher-than-expected price increases, dashing hopes for lower interest rates.

  Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks dropped for a third day, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst weekly decline since August, as concern mounted that more Americans will default on home loans.

  Countrywide Financial Corp., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. led financial shares lower, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to its biggest slide in two weeks. Seventy-eight of 88 stocks in an S&P 500 gauge of financial companies fell on speculation loan delinquencies will curb their profit growth.

  ``Once the ball starts rolling, people don't know where it's going to stop,'' said Michael Alpert, who helps manage about $1 billion at J&W Seligman & Co. in New York. For investors, ``if you have a list of plusses and minuses, the minuses are starting to stack up.''

  Stocks retreated this week after a government report showed higher-than-expected price increases, dashing hopes for lower interest rates. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said today that he remains ``vigilant'' on inflation.

  The Dow average slipped 38.54, or 0.3 percent, to 12,647.48. The S&P 500 lost 5.19, or 0.4 percent, to 1451.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 9.84, or 0.4 percent, to 2515.10.

  In the holiday-shortened week, the Dow lost 0.9 percent, the S&P 500 decreased 0.3 percent, while the Nasdaq rose 0.8 percent.

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