July 18 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell after Citigroup Inc., the nation's largest financial-services firm, reported quarterly earnings that missed analysts' estimates.

Mylan Laboratories Inc. had the worst performance in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index after the drugmaker said an unidentified investor offered to sell shares equal to billionaire Carl Icahn's holding.

The benchmark index retreated from a four-year high and headed toward its first decline in eight days.

``We're near the end'' of a bull market, said Ken Tower, chief market strategist at CyberTrader Inc., a unit of Charles Schwab Corp. ``Earnings growth is slowing. Economic growth is slowing,'' he said from Princeton, New Jersey.

The S&P 500 lost 4.26, or 0.4 percent, to 1223.66 as of 12:34 p.m. in New York, dragged lower by financial companies. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 9.48, or 0.4 percent, to 2147.30.

Gains in General Motors Corp. helped limit the decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow average fell 19.59, or 0.2 percent, to 10,621.24.

Profit growth among S&P 500 companies probably slowed to 7.1 percent in the second period from 17 percent in the first, according to a Bloomberg analysis of Thomson Financial data. That would mark the slowest quarterly growth in three years. Economic expansion is expected to cool to 3.6 percent this year following 4.4 percent growth in 2004.

Earnings Reports

About 150 S&P 500 companies are scheduled to report results this week including Intel Corp., the world's No. 1 maker of semiconductors, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., the No. 3 U.S. bank.

Investors will also look to comments from Alan Greenspan on July 20-21, in what may be his last appearance before Congress as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Some 567 million shares changed hands on the Big Board, 17 percent less than the same time a week ago.

Citigroup slid $1.06, or 2.3 percent, to $45.36 for the biggest drop in the Dow average. The bank had earnings of 97 cents a share, less than the average analyst estimate of $1.02 in a Thomson survey. Citigroup struggled to make money buying and selling debt and derivatives as the gap between short-term and long-term interest rates narrowed.

Bank of America, MBNA

Bank of America Corp. and MBNA Corp. dropped even after reporting better-than-expected earnings.

Bank of America, the No. 2 U.S. bank, slipped 71 cents to $45.27. The company said second-quarter net income excluding some items was $1.08 a share, more than the $1.01 average analyst estimate in a Thomson poll.

MBNA, which agreed in June to be purchased by Bank of America for $35 billion, fell 34 cents to $25.88. The company reported profit of 50 cents a share. Analysts expected 49 cents.

A gauge of financial stocks, which makes up a fifth of the S&P 500, lost 0.8 percent and was the biggest drag on the benchmark among 10 industry groups. Second-quarter earnings for the companies probably increased 0.9 percent, based on estimates from analysts.

Mylan dropped 96 cents, or 5 percent, to $18.44 and headed for its steepest decline in five months. The stockholder offered to sell 26.3 million shares, matching the total that Icahn reported owning in a November filing, Mylan said yesterday in a statement. Mylan said the tendering shareholder's identity wasn't disclosed. Icahn didn't return calls to his office yesterday.

GM added 63 cents to $37.37. The world's largest automaker hired top-ranked auto analyst Stephen Girsky from Morgan Stanley to advise its executives as they try to return the company to profitability.

Acquisitions

Acquisitions helped lift Maytag Corp. and Stanley Works.

Maytag climbed $1.81, or 12 percent, to $17.26 for the best performance in the S&P 500. The appliance maker was offered $1.35 billion in cash and stock by Whirlpool Corp., topping bids from China's Haier Group and a group led by Ripplewood Holdings LLC. Whirlpool, the No. 1 U.S. home-appliance maker, bid $17 a share. Whirlpool rose $2.66 to $72.65.

Stanley Works rallied $3.36, or 7.1 percent, to $50.08. The biggest U.S. hand-tool producer said it agreed to buy Facom Tools from Fimalac SA for 410 million euros in cash ($494.1 million), almost doubling the size of its European operations.

Geron Jumps

Geron Corp. jumped $1.91 to $10.52. The developer of cell- based therapies for cancer said it agreed to collaborate with Merck & Co. on developing a cancer vaccine in exchange for certain payments and an equity investment by Merck. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Guidant Corp., the heart-device maker being bought by Johnson & Johnson, slumped $1.11 to $68.30. The company said it is telling doctors that nine models of its cardiac pacemakers may need to be replaced after Guidant received reports of 69 devices that failed. U.S. regulators may classify the action a recall, Guidant said. Johnson & Johnson, the world's largest maker of medical devices, fell 6 cents to $64.97.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Levy in New York at alevy5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 18, 2005 12:46 EDT