Stocks end lower for second session on Greece worries

U.S. stocks were again weighed down by the drama in debt-strapped Greece, where its defiant new government is waging a high-stakes poker game with its European lenders.

At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average was off 95 points, or 0.5%, at 17,729.21. The Nasdaq was off 18 points, or 0.4%, at 4,726.01. The S&P 500 lost 8.7 points, or 0.4%, to 2,046.74.

The Dow is coming off a 660-point, 3.8%, gain last week that helped it edge back into the black for the year after a nearly 5% drop in January. Last week's gains were powered by a rebound rally in oil, solid U.S. profit reports and a sense that the Greece crisis would be resolved.

On Monday, oil futures rallied 3% to over $53 a barrel.

Over the weekend, its Prime Minister Alex Tsipras upped the ante in his fight with creditors, again taking a hard line with eurozone lenders in an attempt to renegotiate terms with its creditors.

According to Barclays, risk assets, including stocks in Europe and the U.S., are being weighed down following Greece's insistence "not to seek and extension of its current bailout program." The Greek drama is heating up as investors confront the prospect of a Greek default or an exit from the eurozone. Still, global investors are still hopeful a deal will be struck and the worst-case outcome avoided.

"Markets are anxious for a quick resolution to the uncertainty given Greece's hard line," Barclays said in an early-morning client report.

Stocks in Europe were also hurt by the latest twist in the Greek debt drama.

The broad Stoxx 600 was off nearly 1%. The German DAX was off 1.7%, while the CAC 40 in France was 1.2% lower and the FTSE 100 in London was down 0.7%.

European markets are also on edge due to the Ukraine crisis. Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine are set for talks later this week in an attempt to resolve the crisis, which involves fighting between Ukraine and pro-Russia rebels, diplomatically.