S&P 500 ends down, but off day's low after Cyprus vote
The S&P 500 fell for a third day on Tuesday but pared losses late in the day after the parliament of Cyprus rejected a proposed tax on bank deposits.
Rejection of the tax, which was a condition of a European bailout, eased worries that savers will begin withdrawing funds. At the same time, it left efforts to rescue the country - the latest casualty of the euro-zone debt crisis - up in the air.
"Regardless of the vote in Cyprus, we still have the problem. No one knows: 'What is the Cypriot financial restructuring going to look like?'" sad Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at the ConvergEx Group, in New York.
Banks in Cyprus will remain closed until Thursday.
The S&P 500's retreat followed a long streak of gains where the index came close to hitting its all-time closing high set in 2007. The S&P 500 is still on track to post its best quarter in a year. The benchmark S&P 500 is up 8.4 percent for the year, while the Dow is up 10.3 percent.
Energy shares led the day's decline following a drop in oil prices and a slide in the shares of oil services companies. The PHLX oil services sector index dropped 2 percent. Shares of Schlumberger Ltd fell 3.1 percent to $73.98. The stock of Halliburton dropped 2.7 percent to $39.62.
The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 3.76 points, or 0.03 percent, to 14,455.82 at the close.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 3.76 points, or 0.24 percent, to finish at
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