U.S. stocks fell

U.S. stocks fell, snapping a five- week-rally for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, amid concern plans to help Greece avoid default were unraveling and as confidence among American consumers dropped more than forecast.

Global equities tumbled after George Karatzaferis, who heads one of the three parties supporting interim Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, said he wouldn’t support austerity measures worked out for a rescue. He spoke hours after German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told lawmakers in Berlin that Greece was missing deficit targets.

Stocks extended losses as the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment dropped to 72.5 from 75 in January.

Dow 12,781.14     -109.32        -0.85%, Nasdaq       2,909.85       -17.38 -0.59%, S&P 500    1,342.69         -9.26   -0.68%

Citigroup sank 1.9 percent to $33.01. Bank of America (ВАС) lost 1 percent to $8.10.

Concern that Europe’s debt crisis may curb global economic growth also drove energy and raw material producers lower. Copper shipments to China fell for the first time in eight months in January, while inventories monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange advanced to a record after rising for a ninth straight week.

Freeport-McMoRan, the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer, sank 2.6 percent to $45.21. Alcoa (АА) erased 2.4 percent to $10.38. Halliburton fell 1 percent to $36.42.

Apollo Global Management LLC dropped 2.2 percent to $15.01. The private equity firm that went public last year said fourth- quarter profit fell 66 percent as market swings hurt its private equity holdings.

LinkedIn Corp. surged 15 percent to $87.48. The biggest professional-networking website reported quarterly sales that more than doubled and forecast higher 2012 revenue, buoyed by advertising and subscriptions.