US stocks fall as market eyes Greece talks
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, May 11, 2015. US stocks finished lower Monday, snapping a two-day surge in equities as investors eyed tough negotiations between Greece and international creditors. AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW
NEW YORK–US stocks finished lower Monday, snapping a two-day surge in equities as investors eyed tough negotiations between Greece and international creditors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 85.94 points (0.47 percent) to 18,105.17.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 10.77 (0.51 percent) to 2,105.33, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 9.98 (0.20 percent) at 4,993.57.
“The market seems to be tired,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. “Every time we get up to these levels, we pull back.”
Athens’s radical new government scraped together enough cash to order Monday the debt repayment of 750 million euros ($840 million) to the International Monetary Fund in time for Tuesday’s deadline.
However, at a eurozone finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels, Greece and other eurozone officials remained far apart on whether the Greek government’s reform plans are enough for the debt-wracked country to receive further bailout funds.
Petroleum company Rosetta Resources surged 27.2 percent after announcing an agreement to be acquired by Noble Energy for $2.1 billion plus the assumption of $1.8 billion of Rosetta debt. Noble fell 6.2 percent.
US online retailer Zulily jumped 5.2 percent on news that Alibaba, China’s e-commerce giant, has raised its stake in the boutique that markets to mothers and features daily deals. Alibaba shed 0.4 percent.
Pharmaceutical company Actavis rose 3.1 percent as first-quarter earnings excluding the Allergan acquisition and other one-time costs translated into $4.30 per share, better than the $3.94 per share projected by analysts.
Hilton Worldwide dropped 1.4 percent after announcing that its biggest shareholder, the Blackstone Group, will sell 90 million shares. Blackstone fell 0.3 percent.
Online real estate company Zillow rose 6.9 percent following an upgrade by Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey.
Bond prices fell sharply. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury advanced to 2.28 percent from 2.14 percent Friday, while the 30-year jumped to 3.05 percent from 2.90 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
