US stocks drop on eurozone worries

NEW YORK – US stocks closed lower Tuesday driven by more post-election political turmoil in Greece and nervousness over the fate of its bailout program, but a late buying rally helped minimize the losses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 77.28 points, or 0.59 percent, to 12,931.25 at the close, after having lost nearly 200 points at one point during the session.

The S&P 500 fell 5.91 (0.43 percent) to 1,363.67, while the tech-rich Nasdaq dropped 11.49 (0.39 percent) to 2,946.27.

Losses were spread broadly, with little in the way of domestic US news to overshadow worries that parties opposed to conditions of the 130 billion euro ($169 billion) IMF-EU bailout for Greece might be able to pull together a new governing coalition.

The markets were “pressured by some disappointing reports from the domestic equity front… exacerbating early uneasiness stemming from resurfacing eurozone debt crisis concerns,” said analysts at Charles Schwab & Co.