U.S. stocks retreated, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower for a third straight day, as growing funding stress in Europe fueled concern the region is struggling to contain its sovereign debt crisis.

Stocks pared losses (SPX) as the Wall Street Journal reported that S&P has not warned about a possible French downgrade. Financial shares in the S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent, rebounding from a decline.

The S&P 500 has struggled to stay above its 2010 closing level of 1,257.64 since topping it during the last week of October after slumping below it for almost three months. The index is down 2.5 percent for the year through yesterday, led by a 21 percent slide in financial shares.

The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index slumped 1.3 percent, while the Dow Jones Transportation Average lost 1.3 percent.

Chevron sank 1.7 percent to $101.89. Mosaic, a fertilizer producer, slumped 4.7 percent to $47.18.

Joy Global slumped 11 percent to $75.40. Sales for the latest quarter rose 27 percent to $1.34 billion from $1.05 billion, lower than the $1.35 billion average of 11 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Other industrial companies declined. Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), the largest construction and mining-equipment maker, dropped 4.7 percent, the most in the Dow, to $86.72. Cummins Inc. retreated 2.5 percent to $86.97.

First Solar plunged 20 percent to $34.14. The company said global production of solar panels has tripled in recent years as more companies, including Chinese suppliers, enter the market.