The U.S. stock market enters the new week in worry mode as investors react to the ongoing stalemate between Greece and its creditors and brace for this week’s Federal Reserve meeting on interest rate policy.
Stocks tumbled in early trading as the Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 100 points, or 0.7%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 0.5% and the Nasdaq composite index fell 0.6%.
Wall Street is coming off a volatile week, which saw the Dow end a four-day losing streak with a 236-point gain Wednesday only to falter Friday with a nearly 141 point swoon on renewed fears of a possible Greek default and exit from the eurozone.
Last week also saw turbulence in the bond market, with the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note touching 2.5% for the first time in nine months before bond prices rallied – and yields dropped back – on Thursday and Friday amid the ongoing uncertainty related to Greece’s unproductive talks with its creditors. The 10-year yield was trading at 2.36%, down from 2.40% Friday.
“Greece concerns (are) rattling markets,” Jim McCormick of Barclays told clients in an early-morning note. “Global markets have started the week on a softer note after talks on the Greece bailout broke down on Sunday.”
This week on Wall Street is shaping up to be another volatile one and stocks fell Monday, due in large part to Greece’s inability to seal a deal with its creditors with a month-end deadline to strike an agreement coming up fast.
Source: USA Today | Adam Shell
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