US stocks fall on credit downgrades, Greek talks

At the closing bell the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 49.04 points (0.39 percent) at 12,421.98.

The broad-based S&P 500 lost 6.41 percent (0.49 percent) to 1,289.09, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gave up 14.03 (0.51 percent) to end at 2,710.67.

Earlier losses on each of the indices topped one percent as credit downgrades for a swathe of European countries were imminent and after banks negotiating with Greece to write off some of its debt said talks had broken down.