U.S. stocks were down on Monday following concerns from investors about Greek debt negotiations and unsatisfactory Chinese economic data on top of uncertainty about U.S. interest rates. “After the market’s strong week last week, nine out of ten S&P sectors finished down Monday, with healthcare and utilities the worst performers. Only energy finished up slightly, boosted by rising oil prices.
“I think it’s just general nervousness about Greece,” said Rick Fier, director of trading at Conifer Securities in New York. “When earnings are over, then it becomes a geopolitical type scenario.”
Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ruled out any extension of its international bailout on Sunday and announced moves to reverse some of the reforms imposed by its lenders. National Bank of Greece’s U.S.-listed shares (NBG.N) fell 7.4 percent to $1.12. [Reuters]
Pacific Gas and Electric on Monday applied for regulatory approval to build 25,000 new electric car charging stations, a scheme that would quadruple the number of public charging stations in California. “The San Francisco-based utility wants to build those stations on commercial and public properties, including shopping centers and multi-family housing. The plan is to complete the build-out five years after gaining approval from the California Public Utilities Commission.
California is the largest electric car market and home to Tesla Motors TSLA +0.03%. It had over 5,700 non-residential charging stations as of August last year, more than any other state, said the California Energy Commission.” [Forbes]
The United Nations Security Council is preparing a draft resolution to check ISIS’s ability to trade in oil, antiquities and hostages. “The draft resolution, which was scheduled to be discussed by Council members in a closed meeting Friday afternoon, requires all 193 member states of the United Nations to prevent the sale of antiquities from Syria, similar to a measure the Council passed 10 years ago regarding antiquities from Iraq.
It also calls for sanctions against those who help the banned terrorist organization produce and smuggle oil out of Syria, and reminds all countries around the world that it is already illegal to pay the group ransom in exchange for hostages.” [NY Times]
