Global Stocks: Worries over Greece weigh on markets

U.S. markets snapped a two-day rally on Wednesday on worries over Greece and sliding oil prices. The ECB unexpectedly announced that it will not accept Greek sovereign bonds in return for funding, forcing the Greek central bank to provide billions of emergency liquidity for banks in the weeks to come.

A better-than expected ISM report and solid data on employment could not lead shares higher. Yesterday the Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index for the U.S. climbed to 56.7 in January from 56.5 in December, exceeding expectations for a rise to 56.6. The private sector in the U.S. added 213,000 jobs in January, according the ADP report on Wednesday. December's figure was revised up to 253,000 jobs from a previous reading of 241,000 jobs.

The DOW JONES index added +0.04% closing at 17,673.02 points. The S&P 500 declined by -0.42% with a final quote of 2,041.51 points.

Chinese stocks declined shedding early gains despite a cut in bank reserve requirements from 20% to 19.5% to encourage lending and fight off economic slowdown as investors still worry if stimulus measures are sufficient to spur the economy. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is trading +0.07% at 24,697.28 points. China's Shanghai Composite closed at 3,136.88 points -1.17%.

Japan's Nikkei dipped on Wednesday on news on the ECB's line on Greek debt, falling oil prices and profit taking on good corporate earnings reports, closing -0.98% with a final quote of 17,504.62.