U.S. stocks mildly lower at midday as Greece concerns grow

U.S. stocks pared part of early losses to trade modestly lower around midday on Tuesday, as investors were pondering over impacts of the Greek debt crisis.

At noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 23.46 points, or 0.13 percent, to 18,081.71. The S&P 500 lost 5.18 points, or 0.25 percent, to 2,100.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 15.74 points, or 0.32 percent, to 4,977.83.

Market sentiment was affected by little progress on talks between debt-strapped Greece and its creditors. Eurozone finance ministers said more work is needed to close a cash-for-reform deal between both sides, even though Greece said on Monday it repaid about 750 million euros (847.5 million U.S. dollars) to the International Monetary Fund.

Analysts worried that Athens would eventually run out of cash and default on its debts.

On the economic front, U.S. job openings decreased to 4.99 million from February's revised level of 5.14 million, said the Labor Department Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the National Federation of Independent Business said its small-business optimism index rose 1.7 points to 96.9 in April, a decent month-over-month reading but overall still below the historical average.

In corporate news, shares of Gap dropped 3.86 percent around midday Tuesday after posting worse-than-expected quarterly results. For the first quarter of fiscal year 2015, the clothing retailer's net sales decreased 3 percent to 3.66 billion dollars, compared with 3.77 billion dollars for the first quarter of last year.

On Monday, U.S. stocks ended lower following volatile trading, as investors were looking for excuses to lock in gains after Friday's big rally. Endite