Stocks slip on telecom and financials; Apple jumps

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Monday as investors booked profits after last week's run-up, while concerns about slowing cell phone sales hit shares of the biggest telecommunications companies.

Dow components Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and AT&T (T.N) stumbled after Bernstein Research downgraded both companies, saying the stocks have "come too far, too fast" as it forecast slower wireless growth and worsening land-line performance.

Financial stocks also slumped after Deutsche Bank cut its earnings forecast on 16 large commercial banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), another Dow component. JPMorgan fell nearly 7 percent.

Stocks had closed out a holiday-shortened week with a more than 6 percent gain as investors bet a recovery was on the horizon after the worst year since the Great Depression.

"There's gonna be a little bit of pressure on the market because of its performance the last six or seven weeks," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey. "People are more willing to ring the register and take profits than sit on the sidelines."

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 81.80 points, or 0.91 percent, to 8,952.89. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX shed 4.35 points, or 0.47 percent, to 927.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC slid 4.18 points, or 0.26 percent, to 1,628.03.

The S&P index of telecom stocks .GSPL fell 3.9 percent after Bernstein Research cut its ratings and price targets for AT&T and Verizon. Verizon fell 6.2 percent to $32.48, while AT&T lost 3.4 percent to $28.43.

Financial stocks fell after Deutsche Bank said loan losses for U.S. commercial banks could rise 3 percent by the end of 2010, hurt by a larger percentage of bad loans, greater consumer leverage and faster problem recognition by banks. That compares to loan losses of 1.5 percent in the third quarter of 2008.