Mark
They shouldn't. Perhaps this is the story that the Media is spinning, but in reality they don't know why it went down.
Every time there's a dive in the stock market, a few hours later the media comes out with a story that says: stock market went down today because of fears of __________
Maybe it's only true 25% of the time, most the time they have no idea, but need a story on the cover page.
I'm not surprised that the European stocks went down, due to fears of Euro inflation caused by potential printing a lot more currency, and having their loan to Greece being defaulted. So people sell the Euro to buy other currencies, and invest in that respective currency's market.
Anonymous
Long-term, stock prices are driven by the profitability of the underlying business....but short term, they are driven up & down by greed, fear, and "uncertainty"....since nobody is YET sure what the resolution to Greece's problems will be, that is putting downward pressure on prices all across the Markets...
tiescore
Greece might default on billions of loans, who loaned them that, mostly European banks, if European banks - already weak from the financial crisis take a hit again they will slow their leading, if they slow their lending the European economies will grind to a halt, if they grind to a halt Italy, Spain and Portugal might also default on loans to European banks, all this uncertainty reduces demand for US products in Europe, product demand declines lead to lower profit forecasts, stocks go down
gregory_dittman
People in Greece are selling their stocks including U.S. stocks.
exactduke
Because it affects Europe, and European investments. Plus it has ripple effects throughout the world. 20% or my investment portfolio is in European investments (thru mutual funds).
The market hates uncertainty, that's the bigger problem with Greece & the market.