Shares slide on Greece woes

Stocks slumped yesterday in one of their poorest showings in 2012 as Greece continued its negotiations with other nations over a bailout, reports the New York Times.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell by 97.33 points (0.76 per cent) to finish the day at 12,780.95. It was the Dow’s biggest one-day decline to date this year, as it only narrowly avoided a triple-digit loss. The average fell by as much as 125 points.

The Nasdaq composite index and the Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index climbed slowly during the morning but lost their gains in the afternoon. The Nasdaq dropped by 16 points (0.55 per cent) to 2,915.83, while the S.&P. Fell by 7.27 points (0.54 per cent) to 1,343.23.

The declines were broad, as nine of the S.&P.’s 10 industry groups recorded losses. The only group which did not was materials, which remained flat. Just five of the Dow’s 30 stocks increased for the day, and even those only marginally rose.

The price of oil went up to its highest level for five weeks after Iran revealed it planned to cut off some crude oil exports to Europe. Iran’s move was in response to plans from the European Union to embargo Iranian oil during the summer, a move intended to pressure Iran into scrapping its nuclear programme. There was a rise of $1.06 in benchmark US crude to $102.14 a barrel in New York.