U.S. stocks retreated

U.S. stocks retreated amid concern that a rally in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to an almost four-year high has outpaced global growth prospects.

The euro weakened as Spain raised its budget-deficit target for 2012 and German retail sales unexpectedly declined. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced a new deficit goal of 5.8 percent of gross domestic product compared with the 4.4 percent target previously agreed with the European Union.

Dow 12,952.45 -27.85 -0.21%, Nasdaq 2,976.99 -11.98 -0.40%, S&P 500 1,369.25 -4.84 -0.35%

A gauge of energy shares had the biggest decline among 10 groups in the S&P 500, falling 1.1 percent. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) slumped 0.7 percent to $86.23. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. dropped 3.6 percent to $82.72.

Big Lots slid 4 percent to $42.73 after reporting fourth- quarter sales of $1.63 billion. On average, analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated $1.66 billion.

Travelers Cos. lost 1.1 percent to $57.78. The only insurer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average was downgraded to “equal weight” at Morgan Stanley. That means the stock’s total return is expected to be in line with the average for its industry peers over the next 12 to 18 months. The previous rating was “overweight.”

Overstock.com Inc. slumped 13 percent to $5.99. The online discount retailer reported fourth-quarter sales of $314.1 million, trailing the average estimate of $377.5 million from two analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Yelp climbed 62 percent to $24.33. The San Francisco-based company raised $107.3 million in the IPO, pricing the shares at $15 each, according to a statement yesterday. The company earlier offered them for $12 to $14.