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U.S. stocks extend losses after collapse of Greece talks

Xinhua, June 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks continued to drop in the morning session on Monday as a breakdown in Greece bailout talks weighed on market sentiment.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 116.95 points, or 0.65 percent, to 17,781.89. The S&P 500 fell 10.23 points, or 0. 49 percent, to 2,083.88. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 28.79 points, or 0.57 percent, to 5,022.31.

The two-day talks in Brussels between representatives of the Greek government and its creditors over the prerequisites for the disbursement of further aid to Greece broke up less than an hour on Sunday.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has accused Greece's lenders of "political expediency" due to their insistence that the most indebted country in Europe take further austerity measures.

Hopes to strike a deal now move to Thursday's Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg which many believe is the last chance before Greece' s EU bailout expires by the end of June.

On June 30, the extension of Greece's second bailout expires. On the same day, Athens needs to repay some 1.5 billion euros (1. 69 billion U.S. dollars) of loan installments to the International Monetary Fund.

Dampening investor sentiment, U.S. industrial production came out negative. After falling 0.5 percent in April, U.S. industrial production decreased 0.2 percent in May, missing market consensus of a 0.2-percent gain, the Federal Reserve said Monday.

"Production is under pressure from low oil prices, affecting mining, and the strong dollar, affecting manufacturing. It's telling that while mining's troubles are well known, manufacturing growth has been absent even longer," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, the June 2015 Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that business conditions worsened slightly for New York manufacturers. The headline general business conditions index fell five points to minus 2.0, its second negative reading in the past three months. Endite