May 14, 2012-Stocks Tumble on Euro Debt Woes

Stocks saw considerable weakness during trading on Monday, as traders expressed continued concerns about the latest developments overseas. The losses on the day extended a recent downward for the markets, which have trended lower for most of May. After falling sharply at the open, the major averages staged a recovery in mid-day trading but moved back to the downside going into the close. The Dow fell 125.25 points or 1 percent to 12,695.35, the Nasdaq dropped 31.24 points or 1.1 percent to 2,902.58 and the S&P 500 slid 15.04 points or 1.1 percent to 1,338.35. With the steep losses on the day, the major averages all ended the session at their worst closing levels in over three months. The continued weakness on Wall Street came amid lingering concerns about the political uncertainty in Greece, as the debt-plagued nation could be forced to hold a new round of elections due to lawmakers' inability to form a coalition government. Peter Boockvar, managing director at Miller Tabak, noted that another Greek election would basically be an up or down vote on the country's Euro membership. "The growing possibility of Greece saying bye bye has put the entire region into the realm of the unknown in terms of the economic ripple effects," Boockvar said. Traders also kept a close eye on developments in China, where the central bank announced over the weekend that it would lower the reserve requirement for banks by 50 basis points in a bid to inject more liquidity into the system.