Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a fourth straight loss, after a measure of retail sales unexpectedly decreased. Oil slipped and Treasuries advanced as an inflation gauge accelerated. The S&P 500 retreated 0.2 percent to 1,082.01 at 12:17 p.m. in New York, after earlier advancing 0.2 percent. Ten-year Treasuries extended a third weekly rally, driving yields to 2.7 percent. Oil declined 0.8 percent to $75.11, the lowest price in a month. Spanish bonds fell and the extra yield investors demand for holding Greek debt instead of German bunds rose to the most since May. The retail sales data offset optimism that an increase in consumer prices suggested that the Federal Reserve won’t be forced to fight deflation. European equities slumped earlier as concern about sputtering growth in Greece and Spain overshadowed the fastest growth in the German economy in two decades. “We in the market are coming to the realization, and we’re getting confirmation from the economic data, that we are having a slowdown,” said James Thorne, who oversees $2 billion as chief investment officer for equities at MTB Investment Advisors in Baltimore. “The market is guilty until proven innocent, and the charge is a double-dip recession.” Almost $2 trillion has been wiped from the value of global equities since the Fed said Aug. 10 that the pace of recovery in the world’s biggest economy will probably be “more modest” than forecast. European stocks rallied early in the day after Germany reported gross domestic product grew at the fastest pace in two decades. Economic Reports The 10-year note yield dropped 5 basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 2.7 percent. The yield was headed for a weekly drop of 10 basis points, according to Bloomberg generic data. The yield touched 2.6797 percent on Aug. 11, the lowest level since April 2009. European Debt The yield on the 10-year German bund fell three basis points to 2.39 percent, after earlier sliding to 2.37 percent, the lowest since Bloomberg began compiling this data in 1989. The premium investors demand to hold Greek 10-year bonds instead of German debt of similar maturity rose to 800 basis points for the first time since June 28. Spanish bond yields climbed six basis points to 4.24 percent. Spanish banks borrowed a record 130.2 billion euros ($167.2 billion) from the European Central Bank in July as investors shun the indebted nation’s lenders. The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of commodities headed for the first weekly decline in six, dragged down by oil, copper and wheat. Oil for September delivery fell 43 cents to $75.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest price since July 16. Futures have fallen 6.7 percent this week, the most since the week ended July 2. December-delivery wheat gained 0.6 percent to $7.4825 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, limiting this week’s decline to 1 percent. Wheat climbed 2.9 percent in the last three days after the U.S. predicted global output will fall to a three-year low as a drought shrinks Russian crops. Copper for September delivery on the Comex in New York has declined 2.5 percent this week as a strengthening dollar cut demand for commodities as an alternative investment. A stronger dollar makes metals priced in the currency more expensive in other countries. --With assistance from Elizabeth Stanton, Margot Habiby, Mark Shenk and Cordell Eddings in New York, Steve Stroth in Chicago and Anchalee Worrachate in London. Editors: Nick Baker. To contact the reporters on this story: Stephen Kirkland in London at skirkland@bloomberg.net; Stephanie Borise at sborise1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net.

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