NEW YORK – Stocks fell Thursday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke disappointed investors by not detailing new plans to boost growth in the world’s largest economy.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 1.1 percent to 1,185.90 as all 10 of its groups declined. Financial and industrial shares had the biggest losses. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 119.05 points, or 1 percent, to 11,295.81.

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned policymakers about the “fragility” of the recovery. The Associated Press

Stocks extended losses as Bernanke stopped short of signaling what he thinks is the Fed’s best option to aid the economy, repeating points from his speech on Aug. 26 in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

“People wanted some sort of announcement that they could rely on and say, OK, that’s specifically what the Fed is going to do,” Wasif Latif, vice president of equity investments at USAA Investment Management Co. in San Antonio, said in a telephone interview. “You didn’t get the substance. Until we get clarity, the market will continue to gyrate back and forth.”

Benchmark gauges Wednesday had the biggest gain since Aug. 23, as investors speculated that President Obama’s plan to inject more than $300 billion into the economy will bolster growth.

While Bernanke said Congress and Obama must put the federal government’s finances on a “sustainable trajectory” over the long term, he warned that policymakers should not disregard the “fragility” of the recovery.

The Fed chief also said policymakers will discuss the tools they could use to boost the recovery at their next meeting this month and stand ready to use them if necessary. Policymakers “are prepared to employ these tools as appropriate to promote a stronger economic recovery in the context of price stability,” he said in the text of a speech to economists in Minneapolis.

Stock futures dropped earlier as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet resisted calls to lower interest rates even after “downside risks” to the eurozone intensified. The economy faces “particularly high uncertainty,” Trichet said at a news conference in Frankfurt. The ECB cut its growth forecasts for this year and next.

Stocks also fell as claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose last week, a sign the labor market is struggling to gain traction more than two years after the recession ended.

The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index of companies whose earnings are most dependent on economic growth dropped 2.2 percent. The Dow Jones transportation average, also a proxy for the economy, lost 1.3 percent.

JPMorgan Chase fell 3.8 percent to $33.51. Boeing declined 3.2 percent to $62.81. DuPont retreated 2.2 percent to $46.40.

Yahoo rose 6.1 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $14.44. Third Point bought a 5.2 percent stake and urged the board to resign, saying directors erred in spurning takeover bids and hired a CEO who wasn’t up to the job.

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