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1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks end lower amid upbeat data, Greece concerns

Xinhua, June 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks shaved early gains to close mildly lower on Thursday, as investors weighed positive economic data against the uncertainty of Greek debt crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 75.71 points, or 0.42 percent, to 17,890.36. The S&P 500 lost 6.27 points, or 0.30 percent, to 2,102.31. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 10.22 points, or 0.20 percent, to 5,112.19.

U.S. personal income went up 79 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.5 percent, and disposable personal income rose 65.5 billion dollars, or 0.5 percent, in May, said the Department of Commerce Thursday.

Personal consumption expenditures soared 105.9 billion dollars, or 0.9 percent, in May, the largest gain in nearly six years.

"Before this morning's release, Q2 consumer spending growth was tracking 2 percent. Now, consumption growth looks like 3.1 percent. Our back-of the envelope estimate for Q2 GDP is now 2 percent," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, in the week ending June 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 271,000, an increase of 3, 000 from the previous week's revised level, below market consensus, the Labor Department announced Thursday.

Overseas, the leaders of states and governments of the European Union (EU) gathered here Thursday as a parallel crucial Eurogroup meeting on Greece ended abruptly without a deal.

Eurozone finance ministers met earlier on Thursday for their fourth meeting in a week, attempting once again to strike a deal on a package of Greek economic reforms to unlock bailout funds for Athens.

Hopes of a breakthrough dimmed again when the ministers' meeting ended abruptly again.

"No Eurogroup agreement in sight on Greece. Eurogroup meeting has been indefinitely suspended," an EU official said.

With no agreement yielded this afternoon, the focus shifts to the EU leaders who pledged to finalize the process within the week.

Time is running out for Greece and creditors to reach a deal before Greece has to repay a 1.6-billion-euro loan to the IMF by the end of this month. Endite