Following the first weekly gain this year for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, US stocks dropped as phone and utility companies fell and as Greece's elections weighed.
In New York, officials told residents to stay at home as a storm forecasters call “life-threatening” may dump as much as two feet of snow from New York to Boston.
The S&P 500 (SPX) fell 0.3 percent to 2,045.74 at 9:36 a.m. in New York. Last week the S&P 500 rallied 1.6 percent after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said it plans to buy up to 1.14 trillion euros ($1.28 trillion) of private and public securities.
The New York Stock Exchange plans to operate on a normal schedule on Monday, said spokesman Eric Ryan in an email. It’s “business as usual for now,” he wrote.
Greek equities fell after Syriza, whose leader has pledged to renegotiate the nation’s international bailout, won 149 out of a possible 300 seats in Parliament. Prime Minister-elect Alexis Tsipras’ mandate is now to confront the nation’s program of austerity, imposed in return for pledges of 240 billion euros in aid since May 2010. His pledges include a writedown of Greek debt while persuading European creditors to keep aid flowing.
“There will some sort of compromise in Greece over the
next few weeks or few months, but along the way it’ll be
bumpy,” said Daniel Murray, the London-based chief economist
and head of research at EFG Asset Management Ltd., which manages
$12 billion.
“There’s a very strong mandate here against austerity and the existing setup. At the same time, Syriza’s rhetoric has softened over the past couple of weeks.”
Earnings reports are also being watched by investors.
Microsoft Corp. is among those releasing quarterly results today. Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far, 77 percent have exceeded earnings projections after analysts reduced their estimates. Profit at S&P 500 companies grew 1.1 percent in the last three months of 2014, analysts predict, down from an October estimate of 8.1 percent.
