US open: Trading halted on NYSE

Stocks were trading sharply lower roughly two hours after the start of trading on the back of another day of heavy losses in Chinese stockmarkets, with markets eagerly awaiting fresh proposals for reform from Greece, on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.29% lower at 17,548 points and the S&P 500 down by another 1.41% to 2,052 before trading on the NYSE was halted at approximately 16:42.

Trading in all NYSE cash equities was halted although trading in options continued.

Overnight in Asia the Shanghai Composite index slumped 5.9% as 40% of China’s listed companies were suspended from trading at the start of the session. The Hang Seng fell 5.8% and Japan’s Nikkei closed down 225 down 3.1%.

European stocks edged higher after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he had put forward reform proposals to creditors and expects to make “concrete proposals” in the next few days.

It emerged on Wednesday that Greece has formally requested a bailout from the European Stability Mechanism. The Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers was expected to discuss the ESM application in a conference call later on in the day.

Athens has been given a final deadline of Sunday to agree with its creditors on new economic proposals for a bailout deal.

If it fails to secure fresh funds, it will be unable to make its €3.5bn repayment to the European Central Bank on 20 July.

The dollar was mixed on Wednesday, flat against the pound, up versus the euro and weaker against the yen, while gold futures for August delivery nudged up 0.3% to $1,155.70.

Oil edged higher, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.7% at $52.71 a barrel and Brent crude up 0.9% at $57.34 a barrel.

Wednesday data

There are no US data of note due, but the latest minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee will be released at 1900 BST.

“FOMC minutes will be the main data event on Wednesday,” said Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets. “The last statement erred on the dovish side with no inferences that September will see the first rate hike. There is a possibility that the minutes will counteract that dovishness with more specific talk about whether the Fed will reinvest expiring bonds in its balance sheet, or reference to the pickup in inflation."