U.S. markets weak Wednesday on European woes

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. markets opened very weak Wednesday morning as Europe’s woes continue to spook investors.

Right out the gate, the Dow dipped 118 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index sank 12 points and the NASDAQ lost 24.

Market participants have their eyes and ears focused on developments out of Europe. The European Parliament is meeting to chart its next course in light of recent changes in French and Greek leadership. Austerity measures have lost support in both these struggling nations, as well as Italy.

Investors will also have several economic reports to weigh throughout the day, including wholesale inventories and earning reports from AOL, Cisco and Priceline.

Stocks also fell sharply Tuesday, but managed to regain some of the losses by the close. The volatile equities continue to tumble as worries mount over Greece’s political landscape, which could alter eurozone austerity agreements.

In world markets, European equities were lower in afternoon trading and Asia ended the day down.

In currencies and commodities, the dollar rose against the euro and the British pound, but fell versus the Japanese yen.

Oil continued its slide, off 71 cents to $96.30 a barrel.

Gold, after a rough day Tuesday, gave back another $17.10 Wednesday morning and was last trading at $1,587.40 a troy ounce.

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