Fears on China and Greece hit US share prices – New York Report
AVOLATILE session saw stocks falling after China implemented emergency measures to stop a selloff in Shanghai’s market and Greeks resoundingly backed their government in rejecting the austerity terms of a bailout.
Equity futures tumbled at the open late on Sunday after Greeks voted “No” to the terms imposed by its creditors.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 46.53 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 17,683.58, the S&P 500 lost 8.02 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 2,068.76 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 17.27 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 4,991.94.
Weighing further on investor sentiment, Chinese brokerages and fund managers vowed to buy massive amounts of stocks as Beijing unleashed an unprecedented series of support measures to stem a decline of nearly 30 per cent in the main Shanghai index over the past three weeks.
Energy stocks led the decline on Wall Street after US crude futures prices settled almost eight per cent lower on concern over growth in China and the Greek uncertainty.
Meanwhile, health insurer Aetna fell 6.4 per cent to $117.43 after it said it would buy smaller rival Humana for about $37bn (£24bn). Humana closed up 0.8 per cent.
The deal is facing antitrust scrutiny, which could make other large-scale mergers in the sector more difficult. Anthem, Cigna, Centene and Health Net, which are all in takeover talks, ended lower.