Major Averages Close Substantially Lower Amid Worries About Greece

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Monday amid continued concerns about Greece and the possibility the debt-laden country will exit the eurozone. With the steep drop on the day, the Dow fell to its lowest closing level in almost five months.

Reflecting the broad based selling pressure on Wall Street, most of the major sectors showed notable moves to the downside over the course of the session.

Substantial weakness was visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 3.5 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. China Southern Airlines (ZNH) and SkyWest (SKYW) posted notable losses.

Brokerage stocks also posted particularly steep losses on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index down by 3.5 percent to its lowest closing in nearly a month.

Piper Jaffray (PJC), BGC Partners (BGCP), and MarketAxess (MKTX) turned in some of the brokerage sector's worst performances.

Electronic storage, semiconductor, biotechnology, and chemical stocks also showed significant moves to the downside on the day.

The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the session near their worst levels of the day. The Dow plunged 350.33 points or 2 percent to 17,596.35, the Nasdaq tumbled 122.04 points or 2.4 percent to 4,958.47 and the S&P 500 plummeted 43.85 points or 2.1 percent to 2,057.64.