UNITED States stocks fell for a sixth week last week, as fuel prices climbed to records and investors speculated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac won't survive the mortgage crisis.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-chartered companies that are the largest source of financing for US home mortgages, tumbled to 17-year lows. They led the S&P 500 to a 20-percent drop from its October 9 record, marking a bear market for the benchmark equity gauge. The Dow Jones Industrial Average entered a bear market two weeks earlier.

The S&P 500 fell 1.9 percent to 1,239.49, the lowest since July 2006, completing the longest streak of weekly declines since July 2004.

The Dow Average fell 1.7 percent to 11,100.54 for its fourth weekly drop. The MSCI World Index of 23 developed markets fell 1.1 percent to 1345.47, entering a bear market.

"I would love to be bullish, but I think that's a little premature," said Julie Van Cleave, who manages US$4 billion as head of large US growth stocks at Deutsche Asset Management in Milwaukee. "We're going from a period of credit expansion to a period of credit contraction."

The declines left the S&P 500 and the Dow down 16 percent for the year as the earnings season enters its second week. Eight of the 30 companies in the Dow Average and 62 S&P 500 companies are set to report results this week, beginning with Intel Corp and Johnson & Johnson tomorrow.

S&P 500 profits are forecast to decrease 13.6 percent from a year ago, led by a 69 percent drop in financial earnings, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

A fourth consecutive quarterly decline would be the longest streak since the last recession in 2001.

Fannie Mae slumped 45 percent to US$10.25 last Friday and Freddie Mac tumbled 27 percent to close at US$7.75.