Stocks, Treasuries Decline as Dollar Gains, Gold Rebounds

U.S. stocks and Treasuries retreated as comments from Federal Reserve Governor Jeremy Stein spurred concern the central bank may begin to reduce stimulus in September. The dollar rallied while gold trimmed its worst quarterly drop on record.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.4 percent to 1,606.28 after rallying 2.6 percent in the previous three sessions. More than 10 billion shares changed hands in the U.S., capping the busiest month for American stock trading since November 2011. The benchmark 10-year U.S. note yield increased two basis points to 2.49 percent after climbing as much as eight points. Oil slipped for the first time in five days while gold rallied more than 2 percent to trim its second-quarter slide to less than 24 percent. The Dollar Index added 0.3 percent.