Wall Street pares losses as Greece promised money

Specialists Patrick King, left, and Christopher Carella work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, May 8, 2012. Stocks appear to be headed to open lower with Dow Jones industrial futures down 0.3 percent and S&P 500 futures down 0.5 percent. AP/Richard Drew

NEW YORK-US stocks pared early sharp losses Wednesday to close with moderate losses after European Union officials confirmed that Greece would get the next installment of bailout funds this week.

Early worries that the EU would deny the country its scheduled 5.2 billion euro ($6.7 billion) payout sent stocks tumbling more than one percent, but later officials assured that Athens would get at least 4.2 billion euros.

At the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 96.05 points (0.74 percent) to 12,836.04.

The broader S&P 500 shed 9.07 (0.67 percent) to 1,354.65, while the tech-rich Nasdaq dropped 11.56 (0.39 percent) to 2,934.71.

“Greek political uncertainty continues to foster worries that the nation will exit the eurozone, while Spanish banking sector uneasiness is also taxing sentiment,” said analysts at Charles Schwab & Co.