Stocks Edge Lower Amid Greece Talks

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are edging lower in early trading as European leaders meet to discuss Greece's strained finances.

Materials stocks fell more than the rest of the market. Mining company Freeport-McMorRan dropped 5 percent, the most in the S&P 500.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average was down 112 points, or 0.6 percent, to 17,574 as of 10:07 a.m. Eastern time.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 12 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,056, while the Nasdaq composite fell 48 points, or 1 percent, to 4,942.

GREECE: Greece and its creditors are holding talks in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss how to keep the country from falling out of the euro. Analysts say Greece has little time left before its banks run out of cash. The European Central Bank has refused to increase the emergency credit the banks need to cope with withdrawals.

EUROPE: Major indexes in Europe were broadly lower. Germany's DAX slid 0.6 percent and France's CAC-40 lost 0.9 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 0.3 percent.

ASIA'S DAY: The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.3 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 1 percent. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 advanced 1.3 percent and Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.9 percent. Seoul's Kospi lost 0.7 percent.

CHINA'S PLUNGE: China's major market indexes have lost nearly 30 percent after hitting a peak June 2. The government has responded with a slew of new emergency measures, but analysts argue that they can't keep prices up without some improvement in economic growth.

ANALYST'S TAKE: "China's leadership has doubled down on its efforts to prop up equity prices," said Mark Williams of Capital Economics in a report. "There is a good chance that the market rescue efforts are seen to be a failure in a few months' time."

CRUDE: Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.58 to $50.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Monday, the contract plummeted 8 percent amid concerns that the crisis in Greece would trigger a slowdown in Europe.

BONDS AND CURRENCIES: U.S. government bond prices rose, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note down to 2.20 percent. The dollar fell to 122.37 yen from 122.64 yen, while the euro declined to $1.0944 from $1.1056.

(KA)