Wall Street closed lower today as investors fretted about Greece’s precarious financial condition and slowing growth in China, while energy stocks fell on weaker oil prices.
US stocks, which rallied on Friday on a strong jobs report, have been trading at historically expensive valuations, fueled by ultra-low borrowing costs.
Investors took a pessimistic view of Europe as finance ministers met to discuss a cash-for-reforms deal for Greece, even though the country said it made a payment of about 750 million euros ($836 million) to the IMF.
They also focused on China, which cut interest rates for the third time in six months on Sunday in a bid to stoke a sputtering economy that is headed for its worst year in a quarter of a century.
All of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were down, led by the energy index, which fell 2.05 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 85.94 points, or 0.47 percent, to end at 18,105.17.
The S&P 500 lost 10.77 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,105.33 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 9.98 points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,993.57.
April payroll data out last Friday indicated US economic growth was picking up, but not enough to raise concerns about an earlier-than-expected interest-rate rise by the Federal Reserve.
European markets were under pressure as euro zone finance ministers met to discuss a cash-for-reforms deal for Greece, even though the country said it has made a payment of about 750 million euros ($836 million) to the IMF.
Asian shares rose on China’s third rate cut in six months but US markets focused on slowing growth in the world’s largest-growing economy.
Rosetta Resources soared 25.6 percent to $24.27 after Noble Energy said it would buy the company for about $2 billion in an all-stock deal. Noble shares down 7.3 percent at $45.75.
Mergers and acquisitions this year reached their highest first-quarter level since 2007 with announced deals worth a total of $811.8 billion in the quarter, up 21 percent year-on-year, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,486 to 1,471, for a 1.01-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,613 issues rose and 962 fell for a 1.68-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.
The S&P 500 index showed 18 new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 45 new highs and 22 new lows.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald