U.S. stocks fell

U.S. stocks fell, after the biggest weekly gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since 2009, as Wells Fargo & Co. slumped and a German government spokesman damped optimism of a quick fix to Europe’s debt crisis.

Dow 11,482.64     -161.85        -1.39%, Nasdaq       2,629   -39.12 -1.47%, S&P 500    1,209.10       -15.48         -1.26%

Gauges of financial and raw material companies had the biggest declines in the S&P 500 among 10 groups, falling at least 2.5 percent.

Wells Fargo, the largest U.S. home lender, lost 6.2 percent as third-quarter revenue dropped and margins narrowed. Alcoa Inc. and 3M Co. slumped more than 2.8 percent to pace losses among companies most-tied to the economy.

Citigroup Inc. rallied 0.6 percent to $28.58. The third- biggest U.S. bank said profit rose 74 percent, beating analysts’ estimates on a $1.9 billion accounting gain and a reduction in losses tied to soured loans.

Gannett slid 8.6 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $10. The owner of 82 newspapers and 23 television stations reported third-quarter profit decreased 1.6 percent as publishing revenue, including advertising and circulation, declined 5.3 percent.

El Paso Corp. surged 24 percent to $24.26. The cash and stock offer is valued at $26.87 per El Paso share, or 37 percent more than the Oct. 14 closing price, Houston-based Kinder Morgan said in a statement yesterday. The combined company would have 67,000 miles (107,000 kilometers) of gas lines and eclipse Enterprise Products Partners LP as the biggest U.S. pipeline operator.