After seeing modest strength throughout much of morning trading on Thursday, stocks came under pressure in the afternoon. With the downturn on the day, the tech-heavy Nasdaq pulled back further off Tuesday's record closing high.
The major averages finished the session modestly lower. The Dow fell 75.71 points or 0.4 percent to 17,890.36, the Nasdaq edged down 10.22 points or 0.2 percent to 5,112.19 and the S&P 500 dipped 6.27 points or 0.3 percent to 2,102.31.
The early strength on Wall Street came following the release of some upbeat U.S. economic data, with a report from the Commerce Department showing a bigger than expected increase in personal spending in May.
The report said personal spending jumped by 0.9 percent in May, reflecting the biggest increase in nearly six years. Spending had been expected to increase by 0.7 percent.
The increase in spending came amid continued growth in personal income, which rose by 0.5 percent for the second straight month. Economists had expected income to rise by 0.4 percent.
"We are finally seeing signs of consumers beginning to spend the gasoline savings they have been sitting on since the start of this year," said Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics. "Moreover, spending is also being driven by a rapidly improving labor market."
A separate report from the Labor Department showed a modest increase in initial jobless claims in the week ended June 20th, although claims still came in below economist estimates.
However, stocks turned lower in the afternoon amid lingering concerns about Greece's inability to reach an agreement for additional aid from its international creditors.
The latest reports indicate that a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels to discuss proposals for Greece ended without an agreement, with European finance ministers set to hold their next session on Saturday.
Greece and its creditors are attempting to hammer out a deal that would allow the debt-laden country to avoid a default at the end of the month.
However, analysts note that time is running short, as a deal would need to be approved by the Greek and German parliaments.
Sector News
Computer hardware stocks showed a significant move to the downside as the day progressed, dragging the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 1.7 percent. With the loss, the index fell to its lowest closing level in well over two months.
Seagate Technology (STX) and Western Digital (WDC) turned in two of the hardware sector's worst performances, falling by 2.5 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
Considerable weakness was also visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss posted by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The weakness in the sector came as crude oil for August delivery fell $0.57 to $59.70 a barrel.
Natural gas, steel, and railroad stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, while most of the other major sectors showed more modest moves.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dropped by 0.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index closed just above the unchanged line, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries closed moderately lower but well off their worst levels of the day. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2.2 basis points to 2.393 percent.
Looking Ahead
Any headlines regarding the Greek negotiations are likely to be in focus on Friday, overshadowing a report on U.S. consumer sentiment.
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