Thursday, June 28, 2012

Wall Street down on Europe, healthcare ruling

US stocks fell today as concerns about JP Morgan's trading loss, a criminal probe into banks in London and a surprise Supreme Court ruling upholding a landmark healthcare law played into a plethora of woes about Europe.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 24.75 points, or 0.20 percent, to 12,602.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 2.81 points, or 0.21 percent, to 1,329.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 25.83 points, or 0.90 percent, to 2,849.49.

European shares extended losses today after a press report that Germany would move sooner than expected towards shared debt liability was denied by a finance ministry spokesman.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.8 percent at 992.09 points after falling to a low of 989.17 earlier in the session.

In Asia, the Nikkei share average rose 1.7 percent to its highest close in six weeks, helped by short-covering as the quarter-end neared, although it was still on track for the worst quarterly performance in two years.

The Nikkei was up 143.62 points at 8,874.11, its highest close since May 17 but holding below its 200-day moving average at 8,940.91. The broader Topix index advanced 1.8 percent to 758.81