* Irish turmoil hits bank stocks
* SanDisk, semis support Nasdaq
* Dow off 0.7 pct, S&P off 0.6 pct, Nasdaq off 0.02 pct (Updates to late morning, changes byline)
By Leah Schnurr
NEW YORK, Nov 22 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Monday as political turmoil clouded Ireland's bailout deal and investors worried that further steps would be needed to combat euro-zone sovereign debt problems.
U.S. financial stocks led the way lower as the European Union and International Monetary Fund began to hash out details of a loan package to Ireland to resolve its banking and budget crisis.
The three major U.S. stock indexes fell to session lows after the leader of Ireland's main opposition party called for an immediate election as the country's government neared the breaking point.
"That just adds to the uncertainty, creating political turmoil at the time you have financial turmoil," said Scott Marcouiller, chief technical market strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors in St. Louis.
U.S.-listed shares of Bank of Ireland tumbled 17.2 percent to $2.21, and Allied Irish Banks Plc lost 4.9 percent to $1.17. U.S. banks' shares also sagged, with the KBW bank index down 1.7 percent.
Marcouiller noted the developments come against the backdrop of a consolidation phase for U.S. stocks after a strong run through September and October, and that ultimately he expects stocks to make little progress between now and year-end.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 77.95 points, or 0.70 percent, to 11,124.60. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 6.84 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,192.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 0.40 of a point, or 0.02 percent, to 2,517.72.
The euro extended its slide to $1.3614, while U.S. oil futures dropped 1 percent to $81.14 a barrel. Exxon Mobil and Chevron Corp were the heaviest weights on the Dow, with Exxon Mobil down 1.5 percent at $69.47 and Chevron down 1.1 percent at $83.02.
The Nasdaq fared better than the other two indexes with strength in the semiconductor sector after Robert W. Baird upgraded SanDisk Corp shares to "outperform" from "neutral."
SanDisk gained 5.7 percent to $42.24, while the PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 0.5 percent.
Netflix Inc jumped 7.2 percent to $185.50 after it said it will offer an unlimited streaming-only subscription plan in the United States. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr: Editing by Jan Paschal)