NEW YORK -- Stock indexes closed slightly lower Monday as talks dragged on between Greek political leaders over a fresh cost-cutting package required for the country to get more bailout loans.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Greek leaders that they need to push through the measures or risk letting the country go bankrupt.
Greece is hoping the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission will release a second installment of $170 billion in loans. Without that money, Greece will likely default when a bond repayment comes due March 20.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 17.10 points to close at 12,845.13. Travelers Cos. Inc. led the Dow lower with a 1.3 percent loss. In other trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 0.57 of a point to 1,344.33. The Nasdaq composite fell 3.67 points to 2,901.99.
Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ, thinks investors are starting to wonder if the stock market's recent stretch of calm trading is a prelude to a big drop. Trading has turned subdued compared with the wild swings of 2011. The S&P has closed up or down by more than 1 percent only three times this year. In December, that happened nine times.
"I look at it like a very-low-tide warning of an impending tsunami," Stovall said.
A worrisome sign, Stovall said, is a drop in the number of volatile trading days in which the S&P index ends lower. There have been only five days in the past month in which the S&P index has moved by more than 1 percent and then ended with a loss. That's half of the monthly average since 2000.
