Wall Street climbed today, rebounding from midday losses, as a last-minute diplomatic scramble got under way to keep Greece from defaulting on its debt payments.
The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) rose 0.3 percent to 2,063.29 at 3:43 p.m. in New York. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) added 0.1 percent to 17,618.57. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) leaped 0.6 percent to 4,988.63.
Greece submitted a new two-year aid proposal to its creditors, calling for debt restructuring in what seemed like a last-ditch effort by Athens to resolve its impasse with lenders. Talks between Greece and its creditors broke down over the weekend, causing Greece to close its banks and impose capital controls.
Greeks are due to vote in a referendum on Sunday that EU partners say will amount to a choice between staying in the euro or leaving.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel played down any hopes of a last-minute deal with Greece today and said there will be no new negotiations before the planned referendum.
MOVERS:
Juno Therapeutics (NASDAQ:JUNO) surged 16 percent to $53.56 after the biopharmaceutical company said Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) will pay it about $1 billion as part of a 10-year partnership to study cures for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Celgene rose 0.7 percent to $115.69.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 0.3 percent to $44.24 after saying it will exit the ad-sales business and has contracted AOL (NYSE:AOL) to handle all its ad sales across Microsoft’s properties.
ADRs of Sony (NYSE:SNE) sank 6.6 percent to $28.36. Sony plans to raise almost $4 billion through the sale of new stock shares and debt. It will invest the money into its growing image sensors business.
ConAgra Foods (NYSE:CAG) rose 0.7 percent to $43.71. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $209.2 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.
Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) dropped 2.9 percent to $21.51. FBR cut its rating on the apparel retailer to "market perform" from "outperform," saying a brand turnaround may take a while, and that the company faces sales and margin pressure from a variety of sources.
KKR (NYSE:KKR) fluctuated around $22.84. The global investment firm agreed to pay nearly $30 million to settle charges that it improperly shifted more than $17 million in so-called “broken deal” expenses to investors in its funds without adequate disclosure.
General Electric (NYSE:GE) wavered between gains and losses as it agreed to sell its European private-equity finance business to Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. for about $2.2 billion. Separately, GE said the regulatory review of the sale of its appliance business to Electrolux is continuing, meaning the deal won't close by the end of the second quarter as originally planned.
OTHER MARKETS:
European markets continued to fall today. Germany’s DAX fell 1.25 percent, while France’s CAC-40 fell 1.6 percent.
COMMODITIES:
Gold for August delivery on Comex fell 0.6 percent to settle at $1,171.80 an ounce.
August crude added 2 percent to settle at $59.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.