NEW YORK — A three-day winning streak in the stock market came to an end Wednesday as investors worried about Europe’s ability to contain its debt crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 180 points. Raw-materials companies had the biggest declines after prices for commodities like copper and oil fell sharply.
Traders focused on remarks from German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggesting that the second bailout package for Greece might have to be renegotiated. Several European leaders want banks to take bigger losses on Greek bonds. France and the European Central Bank oppose the idea.
“Europe is the issue that is first and foremost in everyone’s mind, so any news that comes out on that does have a strong impact on the market,” said Peter Jankovskis, who helps manage about $2.6 billion at Oakbrook Investments in Lisle, Ill. “Any weakness there is going to be a drag worldwide.”
Germany’s Parliament is set to vote today on a measure that would give a European rescue fund more powers to fight the region’s debt crisis. Finland’s Parliament approved the proposal Wednesday, lifting some uncertainty over the debt-crisis issue, which has been dogging financial markets since late July.
“This is a market that has been fluctuating and is thoroughly susceptible to any news, any rumors, any innuendos” about Europe, said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 179.79 points, or 1.6 percent, to close at 11,010.90. It had gained 413 points over the previous two days. The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 24.32, or 2.1 percent, to 1,151.06. The Nasdaq composite fell 55.25, or 2.2 percent, to 2,491.58. The declines were broad.
Raw-materials stocks fell the most of any industry group in the S&P 500, 4.5 percent. Investors fear that Europe’s problems could cause the global economy to slip into another recession, weakening demand for basic materials such as copper. The price of copper plunged 5.6 percent; crude oil fell 3.8 percent to $81.21 barrel.
Stocks rose earlier this week on hopes that Europe was moving closer to resolving its debt problems. The Dow soared 272 points on Monday, its fourth-largest increase this year, and another 147 points Tuesday.
“The market got ahead of itself,” said Joseph Saluzzi, co-head of stock trading at Themis Trading.
