U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower for the sixth time in eight days, as speculation increased that the Federal Reserve will scale back stimulus this year amid signs the global economy is strengthening.

Macy’s Inc. fell 4.2 percent as the department-store chain cut its profit forecast after weaker-than-estimated quarterly sales. Homebuilders and utility stocks slumped amid rising bond yields. Cree Inc. tumbled 19 percent after forecasting lower first-quarter profit than analysts had anticipated. Apple Inc. climbed above $500 for the first time since January, extending a rally after billionaire investor Carl Icahn said yesterday he’s an Apple shareholder.

“The market is scope-locked on Fed tapering in September,”Douglas Cote, chief market strategist at ING U.S. Investment Management in New York, said in a telephone interview. His firm oversees $190 billion. “Quantitative easing is creating some excess in the financial system. The last thing Bernanke wants when he finishes his term is to be responsible for the next bubble.”

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