US: Stocks open lower ahead of key Greece meeting

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks on Wednesday opened mostly lower as equity markets awaited a key eurozone meeting at which finance ministers will consider a Greek proposal to avoid a sovereign debt default.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,824.63, down 44.13 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 1.93 to 2,066.66, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 3.99 at 4,791.63.

The early weakness came ahead of the Brussels meeting at which Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was expected to unveil a plan to win stop-gap financing. The new Greek government has railed against austerity imposed by international lenders.

Strong earnings from Pepsico and others failed to ignite much buying interest "probably because traders are anxious about getting tripped up by the wires that will be releasing headlines from the Eurogroup meeting," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

AFP