By Rita Nazareth March 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks retreated as concern that deteriorating government finances will derail the global economic recovery overshadowed better-than-estimated data on consumer confidence and home prices. Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. paced declines in banks as Standard & Poor’s cut Iceland’s credit rating and an auction of 12-year Greek bonds garnered demand for less than half the debt offered. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. retreated as oil declined after yesterday’s 2.7 percent rally. “Greek bonds are getting killed,” said David Lutz, managing director of equity trading at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Baltimore. “There’s a lot of concern on sovereign debt. People are worried that the situation is not resolved.” The S&P 500 lost 0.2 percent to 1,170.5 as of 11:17 a.m. in New York after rising as much as 0.4 percent earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 11.42 points, or 0.1 percent, to 10,884.44, erasing a 44 point gain. Stocks rose earlier as the S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 U.S. cities and the Conference Board’s confidence gauge topped economists’ estimates U.S. stocks rose yesterday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to an 18-month high, after consumer spending increased for a fifth month and European confidence in the economic outlook improved. The S&P 500 has rallied for the last four weeks, heading for a fourth straight quarterly advance, on speculation the economy is recovering from the worst contraction since the 1930s. To contact the reporter on this story: Rita Nazareth in Sao Paulo at rnazareth@bloomberg.net.

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