 "Blood on the Street as Greek tragedy drags down markets")
Equities plunged on Wall Street as the economic turmoil in Greece worsened, setting off fears of a widespread contagion in Europe.
Economic data from the US also pointed to a slowing economy, which could drag down stocks in Asian markets today too.
The bellwether Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 177 points, after being down 200 points at one stage. The two other indices - the more broadbased S&P’s 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq too fell sharply.
[caption id=“attachment_26425” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“Protestors clash with policy in Athens, as the Greek debt crisis threatened to drag down Europe. Yannis Behrakis / Reuters”]
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Sensing a global economic slowdown, oil slid more than 4 percent on Wednesday.
The US dollar gained as risk aversion gripped all the major markets.
US core consumer inflation also rose more than expected in May - and to its largest increase in nearly three years. This could require the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates sooner than expected, even though the economic engine is sputtering.
For now the focus remains on Greece, where Prime Minister George Papandreou, said he would parliamentary approval to form a new government on Thursday. Meanwhile, street protests raged against his austerity plans.
It didn’t help that an emergency session of European finance ministers ended with no progress on a new aid package for Greece.EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday agreed to convene again on June 19, a day earlier than planned. Talks may drag on into July, Luxembourg’s Finance Minister Luc Frieden said.