U.S. Stocks Plunge on Weak Data, Greece Concerns

Stocks sank Wednesday as disappointing economic data and intensifying protests in Greece rattled Wall Street

All three major U.S. equity indexes retreated almost 2%, wiping out yesterday's strong gains, and setting stocks up for a seventh straight week of declines.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slide 179 points, or 1.5%, to 11,897. The S&P 500 lost 22 points, or 1.7%, to 1265, and the Nasdaq Compositedropped 47 points, or 1.8%, to 2631. Volatility, as measured by the VIX Volatility Index, spiked at close to 20 for the first since late March.

News of a possible resignation by Greece's prime minister following violent union strikes sparked a selloff of the euro. By closing, the euro had fallen 1.8% against the dollar, which settled 1.5% higher against a basket of currencies.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.7% while Japan's Nikkei added 0.3%. The FTSE in London shed 1%, and the DAX in Frankfurt fell 1.3%.

In the United States, Wall Street learned that manufacturing activity in the New York area slowed significantly in June. The Empire State manufacturing survey sunk to a negative reading of -7.8, from May's level of 11.9. Economists had expected the index to dip to a reading of 10 in June.

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/11154050/1/stock-market-story-june-15.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

Dow Jones Industrial Average

 (DJI: ^DJI )

Index Value:	11,897.27
Trade Time:	4:02PM EDT
Change:	178.84 (1.48%)

Prev Close:	12,076.11
Open:	12,075.12
Day's Range:	11,862.53 -12,075.20
52wk Range:	9,596.04 -12,928.50