NYSE Glitch Halts Trading; Stocks Close Lower on Greece, China Worries

Investors can't catch a break. Stocks closed lower Wednesday as investors grappled with Greece's debt woes, a selloff across Chinese stocks and a tech issue at the New York Stock Exchange, which halted trading for almost four hours. The glitch was more of a distraction for the markets, as investors were still able to trade NYSE stocks through the Nasdaq and other venues, so the overall impact was limited. Most of the traffic that goes directly through the NYSE is from institutional investors, not retail investors. Despite the trading halt, the major averages were still being updated from trading on other platforms. Stocks recovered a bit immediately following the reopening of the NYSE, but slumped minutes later. It was still another bad day for China. The Shanghai Composite lost 5.9 percent on Wednesday. Chinese officials suspended trading for 40 percent of listed stocks, after prior interest rate cuts failed to stop the bleeding. Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) finished flat after reports say the company will eliminate 7,800 positions. Meanwhile, the minutes of the Federal Reserve's June meeting signaled that the central bank may delay any rate hike. Many Fed watchers had been expecting the Fed to hike rates in September. Yields on the benchmark 10-Year Treasury fell to 2.21 percent.