Stocks deflated by reaction to news about Greece, euro

Just how nervous are investors about Greece? All it took to derail a day of stock market gains was a headline saying that the country was preparing to leave the euro, an outcome many analysts expect to happen eventually.

Major indexes were higher for most of the day after the National Association of Realtors reported that home prices surged 10 percent over the past year, the biggest gain in six years.

Then, with less than an hour of trading left, news hit that Greece’s former prime minister said the country was considering dropping the euro, giving the market a jolt.

A 50-point gain in the Dow Jones industrial average turned into a 57-point loss in 45 minutes. A last-minute recovery left the Dow down just 1.67 points at 12,502.81.

Facebook’s stock kept sliding, dropping 9 percent to $31. The social networking company has fizzled since its long-awaited initial public offering last week at $38. Facebook sank 11 percent Monday, even as the rest of the stock market rallied.

In other trading Tuesday, the Nasdaq composite dropped 8.13 points to 2,839.08, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 inched up 0.64 of a point to 1,316.63.

Raised Moody’s bond rating reinstates Ford’s logo rights

Ford Motor Co. is getting its blue oval logo back.

Moody’s Investors Service raised Ford’s debt ratings to investment-grade Tuesday for the first time in seven years. The upgrade means that all of Ford’s assets, including factories and the blue oval logo, are back in the company’s hands and will no longer be used to secure the company’s debt. Ford posted the assets as collateral in 2006 in order to get a $23.5 billion loan and avoid bankruptcy.

Ford needed two ratings agencies to upgrade it to investment grade to get its assets back. Fitch Ratings upgraded the company last month. Standard and Poor’s has not yet upgraded Ford.

Moody’s said the upgrade reflects Ford’s strength in North America and its expectation that it will continue to manage its money well. It also said it believes Ford can maintain its investment grade even in the face of a European downturn.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. probed over hiring practices

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. said Tuesday that federal prosecutors are investigating the Denver-based company for possible criminal violations of securities laws related to its hiring practices.

The Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement unit is already probing the company for compliance with employee work authorization laws. In addition, the company said Friday that the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a subpoena regarding its compliance with work authorization requirements.

The company disclosed the latest probe, by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, in an SEC filing.

In 2010, after questions from federal immigration officials, Chipotle fired about 450 Minnesota employees who couldn’t prove they were eligible to work in the U.S. Federal officials then requested worker authorization documents for employees in Virginia and the nation’s capital. That investigation continues. The company has said it is following the law.

 

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