Bernanke leads U.S. Stock Decline

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments on Wednesday dampening speculation about additional stimulus saw U.S. stocks decline, a fact that offset the better-than-expected economic data. Following Bernanke's exchanges with, among others, Ron Paul, commodity shares fell the most in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, while gold headed for its biggest decline of 2012. According to

, Newmont Mining, the largest U.S. gold producer, slumped 3.7%. First Solar

, the largest maker of thin-film solar panels, tumbled 10% after reporting an unexpected loss. Apple

topped $500 billion in market capitalization for the first time, rising 1.5%. The news didn't get any better, as the S&P 500 dropped 0.1% to 1,370.98 just after 12.30 EST. At the time of writing, the gauge remains at 4.5% in February, and looks set for a third successive month of gains.. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 9.35 points, or 0.1%, to 12,995.77. Finally, the Nasdaq Composite Index reached 3,000 for a short time, before falling 0.1% to 2,984.76. “We have a bit of investor nosebleed,” Bruce McCain, who helps oversee more than $20 billion as chief investment strategist at the private-banking unit of KeyCorp in Cleveland, told Bloomberg. “There are still enough things to worry about that with the absence of more stimulus would lead us to question --what's there to move us out of some of that? In addition, we've had a big run-up in stocks. No trees grow to the sky.”