US markets recover from steep losses

U.S. stocks closed mostly flat Wednesday as investors reversed the day's steep losses in late day trading. The markets spent most of the day in decline as the euro dropped to the lowest level in nearly two years amid growing concern Greece could exit the eurozone, the 17 nations that use the euro as currency. A late day rally was led by speculation EU leaders will be able to keep the eurozone crisis from spiraling out of control. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 6.66 points, or 0.05 percent, at 12,496.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 managed to rise 2.23 points, or 0.17 percent, to 1,318.86. The Nasdaq Composite rose 11.04 points, 0.39 percent, to 2,850.12. On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,851 stocks advanced and 1,193 declined on a volume of 2.028 billion shares traded. The yield on the benchmark 10-year treasury note fell to 1.724 percent. The euro fell to $1.2575 from Tuesday's $1.2756. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 79.425 from Tuesday's 79.92 yen. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was down 172.69, 1.98 percent, to 8,856.6. In London, the FTSE 100 index was down 136.87, 2.53 percent, to 5,266.41