U.S. stocks decline on Greek uncertainty

U.S. stocks pared part of early losses to trade mildly lower around midday on Tuesday, as Greek debt crisis weighed on market sentiment.

At noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 23.42 points, or 0.13 percent, to 18,016.95. The S&P 500 decreased 2.84 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,108.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 7.81 points, or 0.15 percent, to 5,075.12.

Greek government officials have turned down "ultimatums" to close a deal with international creditors to resolve the five-year Greek debt crisis, despite the looming June 5 deadline for the repayment of the next loan installment to the International Monetary Fund.

A meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, IMF chief Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Berlin Monday night ended with a call to intensify efforts to reach an agreement.

Athens must repay about 300 million euros (331 million U.S. dollars) to the IMF this Friday and a total of 1.5 billion euros ( 1.65 billion U.S. dollars) by July.

On the economic front, U.S. new orders for manufactured goods in April, down eight of the last nine months, decreased 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.4 percent, from March reading to 476.7 billion dollars, the Department of Commerce reported Tuesday.

In corporate news, General Motors Company announced Tuesday that its total sales were up 3 percent year over year, beating market estimates. Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac dealers in the United States delivered 293,097 vehicles in May 2015, GM's best May sales since 2007 and its best month since August 2008. Its shares, however, edged down 0.19 percent around midday.

U.S. stocks posted modest gains to kick off June's trading on Monday, as investors assessed a batch of mixed economic data. Endite