USA stocks fall after Greek ‘no’ vote; European markets sink

About 10 hours ahead of the open of US markets, the CBT eMini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 1.1% weaker, while eMini Nasdaq 100 futures and futures for the S&P 500 were down 1.2% each. The Shanghai composite dropped 1.3% despite official efforts to shore up Chinese shares, which have fallen almost 30% after peaking on June 2.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 8.02 (0.39 percent) at 2,068.76, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 17.27 (0.34 percent) to 4,991.94.

Walter Todd, who oversees about $1 billion as a chief funding officer for Greenwood Capital stated they might not escape the noise created by the state of affairs in Greece. “I think it’s going to be hard to get any real traction until we get some type of clarity”.

About 61 percent of Greek voters chose not to accept the proposals for spending and tax increase and this was larger than was expected. The result sent European stocks lower, while banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. say a Greek departure from the euro is now the most likely scenario. In the meantime, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande were set to meet in Paris on Monday, with a meeting of eurozone leaders planned for Tuesday in Brussels.

Adding to the uncertainty, Greece’s finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis announced early Monday he will step down from his post, saying he will “wear the creditors’ loathing with pride”. The reason he cited was a preference by his countries’ creditors of not having him in future negotiations. USA oil prices fell almost eight per cent. It was the first time the benchmark index moved more than 1% in a week, up or down, since April.

Not long after the start of trading, the Institute for Supply Management is scheduled to release its report on service sector activity in the month of June. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists was 56.4.