Stocks Opened Lower on Greece Impasse

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Monday as a political impasse in Greece heightened concerns about Europe’s debt crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 116.62 points to 12,703.98. The S&P 500 Index lost 12.82 points to 1,340.57. The Nasdaq Composite retreated 24.03 points to 2,909.79.

The leader of Syriza, a Greek radical left party, on Sunday said it would not join a coalition government to help put in place a harsh and deeply unpopular austerity program, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

JPMorgan will move to limit the fallout from a shock trading loss that could reach $3 billion or more by parting company with three top executives involved in its costly failed hedging strategy.

Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) is replacing its CEO for the third time in as many years, and giving three board seats to a hedge fund led by Daniel Loeb, putting him in a strong position to influence strategy at the struggling Internet company.

Shares of Chesapeake Energy Corp. rose nearly 6 percent before Monday’s opening bell on published reports that billionaire investor Carl Icahn has bought a significant stake in the natural gas company.

Pressure on crude-oil futures was intensifying on Monday, driven by comments from Saudi Arabia’s oil minister and escalating political crisis in Greece. Oil futures declined $1.72 or 1.8% to $94.38 a barrel, down from Friday’s settlement of $96.13 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.