Wall Street falls as dollar strengthens

US stocks ended a second week of losses on a down note, reflecting growing worries that stocks are on the precipice of a pullback.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 100.17 points, or 0.79 percent, at 12,595.75. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index finished down 10.88 points, or 0.81 percent, at 1,337.77. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 34.57 points, or 1.21 percent, at 2,828.47.

European shares fell, weighed down by hawkish comments from European Central Bank Governor Jean-Claude Trichet on the peripheral euro zone sovereign debt crisis, plus a rise in US inflation to a 2-1/2 year high in April.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares closed down 0.4 percent at 1,140.53 points, giving back earlier gains after strong German and French GDP numbers had more than offset weaker numbers in parts of the periphery.

Tokyo stocks fell to a two-week low in heavy volume as bank shares tumbled after the government's top spokesman sparked concerns that banks are likely to be asked to ease troubled Tokyo Electric Power Co's loan burden. Shares in utilities also took a hit, after

Japan's government approved a plan to help Tepco compensate victims of the crisis at its tsunami-crippled nuclear plant and said other utilities will be asked to pay annual premiums to help fund compensation.

The benchmark Nikkei average closed down 0.7 percent at 9,648.77, while the broader Topix fell 1.1 percent to 839.94. The Nikkei shed as much as 1.7 percent to a session low of 9,552.93 after the government announcement, but steadily recovered after that.