U.S. Stocks Decline as Brokerage Shares Drop; Bear Stearn, Lehman Tumble

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks dropped and the Standard
& Poor's 500 Index extended its worst weekly decline since
March, dragged down by financial shares on concern losses will
worsen on investments tied to subprime mortgages.

Bear Stearns Cos. fell the most in the S&P 500 after a
Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst said the second-biggest U.S.
underwriter of mortgage bonds may have to salvage another of its
teetering hedge funds. Moody's Corp., whose founder created
credit ratings, and MBIA Inc., the largest bond insurer, also
dropped.


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