NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. stocks were slightly lower in early trading Wednesday. Investors have their focus turned to Europe, where an emergency meeting of European finance ministers will address Greece’s appeal for more generous bailout conditions. Energy stocks were among the biggest decliners as the price of oil, once again, fell.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average was down 62 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,807 as of 9:52 a.m. Eastern. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was down three points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,066 and the Nasdaq composite rose six points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,793.
GREEK DRAMA: Finance ministers from nations that use the euro are holding an emergency meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, which will be the group’s first opportunity to hear directly from Greece’s new government. Greece wants to renegotiate the terms of its international bailout, which has imposed years of punishing austerity on the country; The current agreement expires in late February. Speculation that Greece could be granted extra time to hold new negotiations lifted markets Tuesday. Greek stocks fell 4 percent.
THE QUOTE: “The headlines out of this meeting will dictate the price action for global markets,” Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG, said in a commentary. “At the moment, it seems European leaders and Greece are willing to meet each other in the middle and this has comforted investors’ concerns after the aggressive tone by Greek Prime Minister Tsipras over the weekend.”
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 99 cents to $49.03 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $2.84 to close at $50.02 a barrel on Tuesday. The International Energy Agency said that the recent rebound in oil prices “will be comparatively limited.”