Traverse City Record-Eagle

Archive: Tuesday

February 7, 2012

Greek talks keep trading subdued

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Associated Press

NEW YORK — Stock indexes closed slightly lower Monday as talks dragged on between Greek political leaders over a fresh cost-cutting package required for the country to get more bailout loans.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Greek leaders that they need to push through the measures or risk letting the country go bankrupt.

Greece is hoping the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission will release a second installment of $170 billion in loans. Without that money, Greece will likely default when a bond repayment comes due March 20.

In Greece, talks between the prime minister and leaders of parties backing his coalition government were postponed for a day.

Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ, thinks investors are starting to wonder if the stock market's recent stretch of calm trading is a prelude to a big drop.

Trading has turned subdued compared with the wild swings of 2011. The S&P has closed up or down by more than 1 percent only three times this year. In December, that happened nine times.

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