New York - US stocks fell Friday after a report said defaults on home mortgages were 30 per cent higher last month than a year earlier, stoking worries about the credit market. Bank shares dropped as the broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index had its first decline in three days.
The S&P 500 fell 4.65 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 1,526.73. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 17.96, or 0.1 per cent, to 13,894.98. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 8.09, or 0.3 per cent, to 2,701.5.
The S&P 500 rose 1.4 percent in the third quarter for its fifth straight quarterly gain in a row, the longest streak since June 2004, Bloomberg News reported.
The Federal Reserve stoked the rally by lowering its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point on September 18, aiming to stave off a recession threat tied to the US crisis over home loans.
Worries that home foreclosures may rise further were reignited Friday when Mortgage Insurance Companies of America said defaults on privately insured home loans rose 30 percent in August from a year earlier.
The Fed's rate cut, while lifting stock markets, has also made the US dollar less attractive. The Canadian dollar Friday rose above one US dollar and to a 31-year high against the greenback. It climbed above one US dollar on September 20 for the first time since November 1976.
The US dollar plunged to a new low against the euro for a seventh straight day on concern that the US economy is weakening. The dollar fell to 70.08 euro cents in late New York trading from 70.63 on Thursday. The dollar declined to 114.81 Japanese yen from 115.60.
Gold rose 10.10 dollars to 750.00 dollars per fine ounce.
