U.S. stocks finished relatively flat on Monday as investors faced the one-two punch of uncertainty in the weather forecast and in overseas markets.
The big story on Wall Street Monday was the impending blizzard scheduled to hit New York City overnight. As of this afternoon, Wall Street hoped to open on time on Tuesday.
But cautious investors were also wary of another storm this morning—one brewing in the Euro Zone.
Greece held their elections over the weekend, with the radical, left-wing Syriza party winning at least 149 of the country’s 300 Parliament seats. This result created increased uncertainty regarding Greece’s economic future.
Experts believe the Syriza party’s victory raises the likelihood of Greece exiting the Euro currency altogether, while also re-igniting the concerns that last week’s quantitative easing announcement by the European Central Bank aimed to quell. Above all, creditors are concerned that this will lead Greece to default on its considerable debt.
As a result, the Euro has already fallen to its lowest point against the U.S. dollar since 2004.
Domestically, it’s a light week for data, with the highlight expected to come on Wednesday, when the first Federal Reserve meeting of 2015 concludes.
Here were the final numbers from Wall Street Monday:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,678.70 (+6.10)
NASDAQ: 4,771.76 (+13.88)
S&P 500: 2,057.09 (+5.27)
