U.S. stocks retreated as concern the swine flu outbreak will hurt travel, energy and hotel companies overshadowed gains in health-care shares and General Motors Corp.’s plan to cut liabilities. Oil fell for the first time in a week, while Treasuries, the dollar and yen advanced.

Host Hotels & Resorts Inc., the nation’s largest lodging real estate investment trust, slid 15 percent. Delta Air Lines Inc. and Carnival Corp. lost 14 percent, while Chevron Corp. fell 1.8 percent as crude tumbled on concern the illness will curtail travel. Humana Inc., the second-biggest provider of U.S.-backed medical benefits, rose 6.9 percent as earnings more than doubled. GM, the largest automaker, rallied 21 percent.

“Concerns about how broad-based the outbreak is have grown over the course of the day,” said Douglas Cliggott, manager of the $84 million Dover Long/Short Sector Fund, which has beaten 94 percent of its peers over the last year. “The hope that a lot of travel-related industries had seen the worst has taken a severe hit today.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 1 percent to 857.51, dropping for the first time in three sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 51.29 points, or 0.6 percent, to 8,025. The Russell 2000 Index slipped 1.9 percent. About three stocks fell for each that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

U.S. stocks extended a global slump in equities after the flu outbreak spread from Mexico to as far as New Zealand and five U.S. states and Lawrence Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council, said the U.S. economy will keep contracting. The MSCI World Index of 23 developed nations lost 0.9 percent, halting a four-day advance.

(Bloomberg.com)