US stocks ended lower today as investors worried about Greece and mulled the prospect of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates as early as September.
With investors growing more nervous about the timing of the Fed’s first rate hike in nearly a decade, the Dow dipped into negative territory for 2015.
Stronger-than-expected May jobs data released on Friday prompted expectations of a Fed rate hike in September, sooner than some expected.
The dollar retreated after a report – later denied – that President Barack Obama had expressed concern over its strength after a year-long rally.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 82.91 points, or 0.46 percent, to end at 17,766.55. The S&P 500 lost 13.55 points, or 0.65 percent, to 2,079.28 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 46.83 points, or 0.92 percent, to 5,021.63.
Nine of the 10 major S&P sectors were lower, with the technology index’s 1.2 percent drop leading the losses.
With today’s losses, the Dow is down 0.32 percent in 2015, while the S&P 500 is up a modest 0.99 percent and the Nasdaq is 6.02 percent higher.
Shares in Germany’s largest lender, Deutsche Bank, surged almost 4 percent on the appointment of a new CEO, but failed to offset a broader sell-off in European equities as bond yields and the euro rose.
Deutsche was one of only two stocks in positive territory on the Frankfurt DAX index, which fell 1.2 percent to its lowest closing level since late February. The index has fallen more than 10 percent from all-time highs hit in April.
The FTSEurofirst 300 closed down 0.9 percent.
Traders and analysts expected the region’s stock markets to make little progress in the near term, while Greece’s debt talks with international creditors remained unresolved. Greek shares fell 2.7 percent.
European energy and mining shares were down more than 1 percent, with oil prices slipping on news of a slide in China’s fuel imports and in the wake of OPEC’s decision to maintain its production target.
Drinks group Diageo soared almost 7 percent after a report said a Brazilian billionaire was considering a bid, while Europe’s biggest biotech company, Actelion, rose sharply on reported interest from Shire.
Syngenta’s shares fell 1.6 percent after the company rejected a second takeover proposal from agrochemicals firm Monsanto.
A pick-up in corporate takeover activity, coupled with economic stimulus measures from the European Central Bank (ECB), has helped to support shares for much of the year.
The FTSEurofirst remains up by around 13 percent since the start of 2015, although it is down 7 percent from peaks reached in April, partly due to lingering worries over Greece.
Earlier, Japan’s Nikkei share average ended nearly flat after trading lower today following strong US jobs data that stoked concerns the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates as early as September.
The Nikkei 225 ended 0.02 percent lower at 20,457.19 after dropping to as low as 20,359.06, the weakest intraday level since May 25.
The broader Topix dropped 0.3 percent to 1,661.99 and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 shed 0.3 percent to 15,010.20.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald