US stocks fall as investors avoid equities – New York Report
US stocks closed lower yesterday, dropping in a broad decline as the outcome of negotiations between Greece and its international creditors remained up in the air, prompting investors to drop riskier assets like equities.
Wall Street has lately taken its cue from the situation in Greece, which needs fresh funds to avoid defaulting on a $1.8bn debt repayment to the IMF on 30 June.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras recently announced tax and reforms proposals, which market participants took as a sign of progress. But creditors demanded sweeping changes to the proposals yesterday, adding fresh uncertainty to talks aimed at unlocking aid to avert a debt default next week.
The US Commerce Department said gross domestic product fell at a 0.2 per cent annual rate in the January-March quarter, instead of the 0.7 per cent it estimated last month.
Investors have been keeping a keen eye on economic data to see if the US economy has recovered from a slow start at the beginning of the year. The Federal Reserve has said it remains data-dependent and expects to raise rates when it sees a sustained rebound in the economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 178 points, or 0.98 per cent, to 17,966.07, the S&P 500 lost 15.62 points, or 0.74 per cent, to 2,108.58 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 37.68 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 5,122.41.
Monsanto fell 5.7 per cent to $106.32 and Netflix dipped 0.4 per cent to $678.61.