U.S. stocks end mildly lower on Greek uncertainty

Xinhua

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U.S. stocks closed modestly lower after wavering between gains and losses on Tuesday, as Wall Street pondered over impacts of Greek debt crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 28.43 points, or 0.16 percent, to 18,011.94. The S&P 500 inched down 2.13 points, or 0. 10 percent, to 2,109.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 6.41 points, or 0.13 percent, to 5,076.52.

Greek government officials have turned down "ultimatums" to close a deal with international creditors to resolve the five-year Greek debt crisis, despite the looming June 5 deadline for the repayment of the next loan installment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, IMF chief Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Berlin Monday night ended with a call to intensify efforts to reach an agreement.

Athens must repay about 300 million euros (331 million U.S. dollars) to the IMF this Friday and a total of 1.5 billion euros ( 1.65 billion U.S. dollars) by July.

European shares ticked down as Greece concerns grew, with German benchmark DAX index at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange falling 0.94 percent.

Asian equities ended mixed, with Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite Index increasing 1.69 percent as market hearsay went that the central bank recently provided pledged supplementary lending (PSL) to selected banks.

Oil prices closed at their highest level since December amid a weak dollar Tuesday, as market expected another drop of U.S. crude inventories.

In response, the energy sector rose 0.5 percent as the greatest advancer in the S&P 500's ten sectors.

On the economic front, U.S. new orders for manufactured goods in April, down eight of the last nine months, decreased 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.4 percent, from March reading to 476.7 billion dollars, the Department of Commerce reported Tuesday.

In corporate news, General Motors Company announced Tuesday that its total sales were up 3 percent year over year, beating market estimates.

Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac dealers in the United States delivered 293,097 vehicles in May 2015, GM's best May sales since 2007 and its best month since August 2008. Its shares edged up 0. 11 percent to 36.22 dollars apiece. Enditem