YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Concerns about the implications of continued political impasse in Greece undermined sentiment in the early going and sent stocks sharply lower at the open. Although pressure eased and the broad market slashed its loss in half, sellers redoubled their efforts late in the day to force stocks to finish near session lows.

Seemingly incapable of forming an elected government, Greece stirred sovereign concerns this morning. That drove down Europe's major bourses, lifted debt yields of countries in the eurozone periphery, and pressured the euro, which fell about 0.5% against the greenback to set a new multi-month low.

Financials were a steady drag on trade. The sector settled the session with a 2.1% loss, which is worse than what any other sector suffered. Beyond broad market weakness, investment banks, brokerage outfits, and diversified financial services players were hurt by concerns that a failure to honor austerity plans by jockeying eurozone politicians carries consequences for eurozone debt and broader financial conditions. A recent trading bluner by JPMorgan Chase (JPM 35.79, -1.17) has also tainted the perception of many firms.  

Energy stocks were also a steady drag; they suffered a collective loss of 1.6%. As had been the case last week, Energy's weakness came in close connection with another drop in oil prices, which fell to a multi-month low of $93.85 per barrel before it settled pit trade with a loss of 1.3% at $94.76 per barrel.

Without the help of the two highly influential sectors stocks had a harder time generating enough momentum to extend the broad market's recovery effort into late afternoon trade. Instead, the S&P 500 came within a couple of points of last week's close before it rolled over and declined steadily into the close.

The stock market's final descent drove higher the Volatility Index, which was up about 10% to a multi-month high of almost 22 by the day's end.

There wasn't a single sector that scored a gain, but defensive-oriented stocks did a decent job of limiting losses. Utilities declined only 0.3%, while Health Care and Consumer Staples both fell 0.4%. Telecom declined 0.5%. Still, Groupon (GRPN 11.73, +1.84) was a standout by surging almost 20% ahead of its quarterly report.

Treasuries attracted the interest of safety seekers, such that the yield on the benchmark 10-year Note dropped below 1.80% for the first time in a few months. By the closing bell the Note's yield was about 1.78%.

Continued strength in the dollar weighed on the commodity complex today. Crude oil prices fell as low as $93.85 per barrel in morning action, but could only erase some of that loss. It settled pit trade with a loss of 1.3% at $94.76 per barrel.

Natural gas failed to extend the upward momentum that it generated last week. Instead, it suffered its first loss in eight sessions. Prices were as low as $2.41 per MMBtu before they settled floor trade at $2.43 per MMBtu for a 3.2% loss.

Precious metals remained week. Gold fell to a session low of $1555.00 per ounce and silver fell to $28.20 per ounce.  Pressure persisted for all of pit action, leaving the metals to trade in a consolidative manner just above their session lows before June contracts for both gold and silver settled at new 2012 lows of $1561.10 per ounce and $28.35 per ounce, respectively. Gold lost 1.4%, while silver shed 1.9%.

Weakness among commoditied cut down the CRB Index for a loss of almost 1.2% -- its fifth consecutive loss, and eighth drop in nine sessions.

Advancing Sectors: None
Declining Sectors: Utilities -0.3%, Consumer Staples -0.4%, Health Care -0.4%, Telecom -0.5%, Tech -0.9%, Industrials -1.2%, Consumer Discretionary -1.4%, Materials -1.4%, Energy -1.6%, Financials -2.1%DJ30 -125.25 NASDAQ -31.24 NQ100 -1.0% R2K -1.4% SP400 -1.2% SP500 -15.04 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 615/1.66 bln/1923 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 472/802 mln/2578