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U.S. stocks ended flat Tuesday, after turning sharply lower during the final hour of trading amid fears that Greece will leave the eurozone.

About an hour before the closing bell, reports surfaced that former Greek prime minister Lucas Papademos told Dow Jones Newswires that Greece is considering making preparations to leave the eurozone.

The euro sank on the news, falling more than 1% against the dollar, and pulled stocks down with it.

Earlier, strong U.S. housing data boosted stocks.

"Investors were able to concentrate on what was happening in the U.S., said Kim Forrest, senior equity analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. "But I guess Greece came back with a vengeance."

Greece: Top 3 risks facing U.S.

After being up almost 1% earlier in the day, the S&P 500 () sank as much as 0.5%. The broad index managed to recover by the closing bell, finishing the day up less than 1 point, or 0.1%.

The Dow Jones industrial average () and Nasdaq () also tumbled following the Greek news. Both indexes bounced back from their lowest levels of the day but still finished in the red. The Dow slipped 2 points for the day, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 8 points, or 0.3%.

Investors will continue to focus on developments out of Europe.

The region’s leaders are due to meet Wednesday in an ad hoc summit to address the latest problems with European sovereign debt, worries that Greece is moving closer to leaving the eurozone, and the contagion effects an exit might have on other economies.

U.S. stocks bounced back from their worst week of the year Monday, on renewed optimism that European leaders would find a way out of the sovereign debt crisis.

Economy: Following the opening bell, the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales rose 3.4% in April to an annual rate of 4.62 million, up 10% year-over-year. Home affordability also came in at record levels.

"These sales levels are still relatively low, but a home is a big ticket item, and to see improvement in the housing market is always good," said Forrest. "It shows that buyers think their prospects are solid enough to agree to a mortgage."

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cut its forecasts for the eurozone economy to a decline of 0.1% this year, and warned that sovereign debt problems pose a risk to the global economic recovery.

World markets: A report showing ebbing inflation in the United Kingdom raised hopes that lower price pressures might allow leaders to move toward more stimulus to respond to economic weakness.

European stocks ended higher. Britain’s FTSE 100 () rose 1.9%, while the DAX () in Germany gained 1.7% and France’s CAC 40 () jumped 2.2%.

Fitch downgraded Japan, the world’s No. 3 economy, and suggested further downgrades could be coming.

Asian markets ended before the Japan downgrade was announced. The Shanghai Composite () rose 1.0%, the Hang Seng () in Hong Kong gained 0.6% and Japan’s Nikkei () climbed 1.1%.

Companies: Bank stocks were among the biggest gainers Tuesday, with shares of JPMorgan Chase (, Fortune 500) rising almost 5%. Bank of America (, Fortune 500) and Citigroup (, Fortune 500) rose more than 2%, while Morgan Stanley (, Fortune 500) and Goldman Sachs (, Fortune 500) added about 1%.

Best Buy (, Fortune 500), which has been hit by a scandal that cost the CEO his job, along with store closings during the most recent quarter, reported solid earnings even as same-store sales fell 5.3%. The retailer also reaffirmed its earnings guidance of $3.50 to $3.80 a share, excluding restructuring charges. Analysts are only looking for earnings of $3.58 a share this year.

AutoZone (, Fortune 500) also reported better than expected earnings of $6.28 a share, but weaker than expected revenue sent its shares lower.

Williams Sonoma () reported earnings per share of 34 cents excluding special items, which came in better than forecasts and year-earlier results. The retailer raised its earnings guidance for 2012.

Shares of Urban Outfitters () popped after the retailer topped earnings expectations.

Polo Ralph Lauren’s (, Fortune 500) stock also edged up after the company’s profit rose 29% on strong revenue and same-store sales growth. The company also doubled its quarterly dividend. But the company’s revenue guidance for fiscal 2013 came in below expectations.

Shares of Dell (, Fortune 500) tumbled in after-hours trading Tuesday after the computer maker posted a profit that was below Wall Street’s expectations, and also issued a disappointing forecast for the second quarter, amid weak PC sales.

Currencies and commodities: The euro sank on the Greek news, falling more than 1% against the dollar. Earlier it was only off between 0.5% and 0.7%.

Oil for July delivery fell $1.38 to settle at $91.48 a barrel.

Gold futures for June delivery fell $22.10 to settle at $1,566.60 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury slid, pushing the yield up to 1.79% from 1.74% late Monday.  

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The percentage of borrowers who have dropped behind on their mortgage payments fell to a four-year low in the first three months of 2012, a bankers’ group said Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday that the percentage of loans delinquent or already in the foreclosure process during the first quarter was 11.33%, the lowest level since 2008. That was a decrease of 1.2 percentage points from a quarter earlier and 0.98 percentage point below the rate 12 months earlier.

"Delinquencies are clearly continuing to improve," said Michael Fratantoni, the MBA’s vice president for research and economics.

Another hopeful sign is the falling percentage of borrowers who are just getting into trouble, ones who have missed one payment. That’s useful for predicting the more seriously delinquencies to come.

"Newer delinquencies, loans one payment past due as of March 31, are down to the lowest level since the middle of 2007, indicating fewer new problems we will need to deal with in the future," said Fratantoni.

These new delinquencies represented 3.1% of loans outstanding, according to Jay Brinkmann, the MBA’s chief economist. That matches the long-term historical average of 3.1% going back to the 1990s, he said.

"Basically, we’re back to normal on that count," he said.

One factor that has slowed the healing is the continued difficulty lenders face moving foreclosures through the pipeline, especially in states that involve the courts in the foreclosure process guaranteed online payday loans.

In the so-called judicial states, 6.9% of loans are in foreclosure inventory, loans that the banks have begun the legal process of foreclosing on but have not yet taken control of the property through a foreclosure sale.

In non-judicial states, where foreclosures are handled by trustees such as title companies, only 2.9% of loans are in foreclosure inventory.

The difference is mostly the speed that banks can move defaults through the system, said Brinkmann.

Bank of America offering up to $30,000 for short sales

One way banks have started to reduce foreclosures is that they are now encouraging short sales, the deals in which borrowers sell their homes for less than what the owe, leaving the banks to absorb the losses.

That can also move delinquent borrowers out of the homes more quickly.

Banks also know that short sales are less costly to them than foreclosures, in which expenses such as property taxes, insurance and maintenance can mount up. In addition, homes repossessed in foreclosures often come to the bank in poor condition, and they command lower prices, on average, than short sales.

The mortgage lenders now often pay large incentives to borrowers willing to cooperate in getting short sales done. For instance, Bank of America is offering some struggling homeowners payments of up to $30,000 if they sell their homes in a short sale and avoid ending up in foreclosure.  

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U.S. consumers barely increased their spending on retail goods in April. The weak gain was affected by cheaper gas prices and possibly a mild winter, which may have encouraged consumers to make purchases in the previous two months.

The Commerce Department says retail sales rose 0.1 percent April. Retail spending had risen 0.7 percent in March and 1 percent in February.

Some of the drop was the result of lower gas prices business cards design. But excluding gasoline station sales, retail sales rose just 0.2 percent. That means consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity, got off to a sluggish start for the April-June quarter.

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is a surprise.

Originally conceived as a photo-sharing site, the year-old company became a Silicon Valley punchline after its disasterously overhyped launch. Major investors like Sequoia Capital and Bain Capital flung $41 million at the startup, only to see it implode within days of going live. Color’s top product executives quickly headed out the door.

Nguyen shrugged and pivoted. He’s got plenty of cash in the bank to experiment with, and no shortage of ideas guaranteed personal loan approval. The video market is exactly the kind of wide-open fiend that Nguyen, a serial entrepreneur who sold his last venture to Apple (, Fortune 500), loves to play in.

"We want to give people a glimpse of the future and deliver it as fast as possible," he says. 

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UPDATED at 5:30 p.m. with more information.

One of the region’s biggest casinos is about to get a new owner.

Penn National Gaming on Monday announced a deal to buy Harrah’s Maryland Heights Casino from Caesars Entertainment for $610 million. The purchase, expected to close by the end of the year, will give the fast-growing Pennsylvania gaming company a deeper foothold in the $1.1 billion St. Louis casino market, eight years after it bought locally based Argosy Gaming.

“The planned addition of Harrah’s St. Louis will further expand Penn National’s regional operating platform with a facility that is extremely well-positioned in a large metropolitan market,” said Penn CEO Peter Carlino.

The casino, which opened on the Missouri River in 1997, is the region’s second-busiest by revenue. Gamblers spent $268.4 million there last year, according to the Missouri Gaming Commission, down 1.2 percent from 2010.

It has a 500-room hotel, 4,600-car parking garage and 2,600 slot machines. But the property has seen relatively little investment in recent years, even as new rivals around the region have opened up and old ones have expanded.

Its parent company, Caesars, was acquired by private equity firms in 2008, and went public in February. Chief executive Gary Loveman has said he hoped to sell some properties to fund new projects.

“The sale of this property exemplifies our strategy to maximize returns from our mix of assets through investments in new markets as well as occasional divestitures,” he said. “We are committed to expanding our distribution network into growth markets that have the potential for high returns no fax payday loan.”

While Caesars is selling, Penn has been growing.

The company bought a casino in Las Vegas last year and has opened new properties in Maryland, Ohio and, just this February, Wyandotte County, Kansas. It has had a presence in the St. Louis market — owning the Argosy Alton — since buying Argosy Gaming in 2004 for $1.4 billion.

Having two casinos in the St. Louis market could help Penn save money on marketing and back office costs. But spokesman Joe Jaffoni said that synergy was not a major factor in the deal.

“(Maryland Heights) is just a good asset. It’s got a good long-term operating history,” he said. “It’s pretty much in the Penn National sweet spot.”

After the sale goes through, Penn will re-brand the casino to its “Hollywood” brand, which it uses at 11 other properties and “will invoke the glamour of 1930s art deco Hollywood.”

The deal will need approval by the Missouri Gaming Commission, which vets all casino-license holders in the state. Penn already owns a property in Kansas City, so that process may be quicker than if it were a new company to the state.

The casino employed nearly 1,900 people in 2010, according to Maryland Heights financial documents. There was no word Monday on how the sale might affect workers there.

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One month of slower job growth might have been a blip. Two suggest a worrisome trend: The economy may be faltering again.

The United States generated just 115,000 jobs last month, well below expectations and the fewest since October. The unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent, but for the wrong reason _ workers abandoned the labor force.

From December through February, employers added 252,000 jobs a month on average. But the figure dipped in March and dropped further in April, raising doubts about an economic recovery that can’t seem to reach escape velocity.

The report Friday by the Labor Department indicated “an economy that is losing momentum _ especially on the jobs front,” said Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets.

It also dealt a blow to President Barack Obama’s re-election prospects. His presumed Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, called the report “very disappointing.”

Romney said the country should be adding 500,000 jobs a month and said any unemployment rate above 4 percent is “not cause for celebration.” The rate has not been that low seen since the last days of the Clinton administration.

“We seem to be slowing down, not speeding up,” Romney said on Fox News Channel. “This is not progress.”

Obama, at a Virginia high school to promote a freeze on interest rates for student loans, focused on the six-month total of more than 1 million jobs created. But he said: “We’ve got to do more.”

The 8.1 percent unemployment rate is the lowest since January 2009, the month Obama was sworn in.

Still, the weak job growth caused stocks to fall sharply on Wall Street. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 1.6 percent and closed its worst week of the year. The price of oil fell more than 4 percent because of fears of a slowing economy, which should mean lower gasoline prices soon.

Some of the slower job growth may be because an unusually warm winter allowed construction firms and other companies to add workers ahead of schedule in January and February, effectively stealing jobs from the spring.

The weaker job growth in March and April “looks like some weather payback,” said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

The balmy weather probably exaggerated job growth in the winter and makes it look small now, Ashworth said. He expects job creation to settle into a lackluster range between 175,000 and 200,000.

The economy may not be growing fast enough to produce anything stronger. Economists surveyed by The Associated Press expect the economy to grow 2.5 percent this year. That is consistent with monthly job growth of only about 135,000, according to calculations by Brad DeLong, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

That is barely enough to keep up with population growth not nearly enough to recover the jobs lost in the Great Recession quickly. At this year’s pace, it will take until May 2014 to restore employment to its 2008 peak of 138 million.

The United States has only recovered 3.8 million, or 43 percent, of the 8.8 million jobs lost between the peak, in February 2008, and January 2010.

David Boyce, 30, is one of those still looking for work. He lost his sales job two years ago and ran out of unemployment benefits in September. He and his wife, who is working reduced hours as a nanny, are struggling to get by.

“We lived off savings for a while,” he said. “And now we’re living off ramen noodles basically.”

April’s hiring slump was broad. Only two of 10 large categories tracked by the government, retailers and professional and business services, hired more workers in April than they did in March Low fee payday loans.

The categories of manufacturing and education and health services added the fewest jobs in five months. Hotels, restaurants and entertainment companies added the fewest in eight months.

Friday’s report noted that that the average hourly wage went up one penny in April. Over the past year, average pay has increased 1.8 percent, almost a full percentage point shy of the inflation rate, which means the average American isn’t keeping up with price increases.

Even April’s bright spot, the lower unemployment rate, fades on closer inspection.

The government only counts people as unemployed if they’re looking for work. And 340,000 Americans stopped looking and dropped out of the labor force in April, which is why the unemployment rate fell slightly. The dropouts mean just 63.6 percent of working-age Americans were working or looking for work, the lowest since 1981.

It has been almost three years since the Great Recession ended in June 2009. Economists say countries usually flounder for several years after a financial crisis like the one that hit the United States in 2008.

Damaged banks are reluctant to lend. Borrowers who took on too much debt in the good times change their ways, cut their spending and try to repair their finances. The economy grows slowly.

And after this financial crisis, the economy is trying to gather speed without two of the engines that usually help power economic recoveries: housing and government spending.

A housing collapse caused the crisis, and home construction isn’t doing much to lead the way out. Housing hasn’t contributed to economic growth since 2005, though a recent burst of apartment construction might change that this year.

Government hiring also normally boosts employment after a recession. Not this time. Cities, towns and counties, especially, have been cutting employment. Private employers have added jobs every month since February 2010, noted Gary Burtless, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution. Over that same period, government payrolls have dropped by 500,000.

Local governments are beginning to recover some of the tax revenue lost in the recession and its aftermath. But government hiring hasn’t started yet: 15,000 government workers, most of them in local schools, lost their jobs in April.

The recovery has one thing going for it: Even meager gains in jobs will feed on themselves and create growth that eventually becomes self-sustaining. The hiring leads to spending, which stimulates demand and leads to more hiring, which leads to more spending. The country has created 1.5 million jobs in eight months.

The economists AP surveyed said they believe the economy has entered such a “virtuous cycle.” But they said they don’t expect unemployment to reach a healthy level _ below 6 percent _ until 2015 or later.

Until then, many companies are likely to behave like the North American division of Philips, the healthcare and consumer products company. It is hiring, but more slowly than in years past.

The company is trying to fill 400 jobs, including 127 in Cleveland, where it has a plant that makes medical imaging equipment. Things are improving, said Cynthia Burkhardt, the company’s vice president of talent acquisition. But “I wouldn’t say that we’re full steam ahead right now. Everyone’s cautious about the economy.”

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U.K. house prices rose in April for a second month, according to Hometrack Ltd., which said gains may not be sustained as demand fails to keep up with supply.

Values rose 0.1 percent from March, when they increased 0.2 percent, the London-based property research company said in an e-mailed report today. An indicator of demand rose at half the pace seen in the previous month.

The property market received a temporary boost this year as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of a tax holiday on some homes before it expired on March 24. Demand may be undermined by Britain

A strong showing by Socialist candidate Francois Hollande in the first round of France’s presidential election Sunday may rattle U.S. and global financial markets in the coming weeks.

Hollande wants to renegotiate a European treaty, agreed to just last year, intended to limit excessive government spending. He wants the pact to emphasize growth over austerity. He has also promised to roll back some deficit-cutting reforms put in place by his opponent, current President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Many economists fear that those steps would upset the delicate cooperation with Germany that has been key to Europe’s response to its financial crisis. Sarkozy has formed a partnership with German chancellor Angela Merkel on Europe’s debt crisis, so close that many commentators refer to them as “Merkozy.”

“Europe is not `fixed’ yet, but if you have France and Germany agreeing on certain policies, that makes it more likely they will fix it somehow,” said Jay Bryson, global economist at Wells Fargo Securities. Disagreement between the countries’ leaders raises the risks that Europe’s crisis could worsen, he said.

Hollande finished just ahead of Sarkozy out of a 10-candidate field. They will face off May 6 in the final round of voting. Sarkozy is struggling to avoid becoming France’s first one-term president since 1981.

Hollande is a 57-year-old career politician and party boss who has never held a high-ranking position in French government. He led the Socialist Party during its last two presidential defeats, including in 2007, when his former partner, Segolene Royal, lost to Sarkozy.

Like most of Europe, France’s economy is struggling and jobs are one of the top issues on voters’ minds. The International Monetary Fund forecasts the economy will barely expand this year. The unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent.

France’s election results come as the European debt crisis has flared again after months of relative quiet. Many analysts question whether Italy and Spain can stick to steep budget cuts and labor market reforms that they have promised to get their finances in order and jump-start economic growth.

Europe’s financial problems have repeatedly roiled U.S. stock markets in the past two years. The European Union is the United States’ largest trading partner and a financial meltdown in the region would cut into U.S. exports and reduce factory production. U.S. banks would also likely pull back on lending to preserve cash in response to a worsening financial crisis.

Italian and Spanish bond yields, after falling earlier this year, have risen in recent weeks. That indicates investors see the bonds as riskier and are demanding higher rates to buy them.

The renewed fears about Italy and Spain make it a particularly risky time for France and Germany to disagree over how to resolve the debt crisis, economists said.

“It raises uncertainty, and markets never like uncertainty,” Bryson said high quality business cards.

That increased risk, in turn, makes it more likely that investors in the U.S. and around the world will shift money to safer assets _ U.S. and German government bonds, for example _ and away from riskier holdings, such as stocks.

Bonds from highly indebted European countries, such as France, Italy and Spain, are also likely to take a hit. Hollande’s campaign promises, such as his commitment to lower France’s retirement age, could worsen the country’s budget deficit.

And his pledge to raise the top tax rate for the wealthiest in France to 75 percent would slow the country’s economy, economists say. That would make it harder to generate the tax revenue to pay off its debts.

Hollande also uses anti-free market rhetoric that could also alienate investors. In a rally last week, he pledged to be a president “stronger than the markets, stronger than finance.”

There are already some signs that investors are worried about the election’s ultimate outcome. Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at BTIG, an institutional brokerage, said that yields on France’s 2-year bonds have jumped in recent weeks.

Currently, 10-year French government bonds yield about 3 percent, Greenhaus said, after creeping up a bit recently. That’s much lower Italian and Spanish 10-year debt, where yields are just below 6 percent. But the gap between French and German bond yields has widened steadily since last summer.

“Nervousness about the election is clearly having an effect,” he said.

Still, Jeffrey Bergstrand, a finance professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the possibility that financial markets will drive up France’s borrowing costs will limit Hollande’s ability to sharply disagree with Germany or radically depart from Sarkozy’s policies.

“He can’t go rogue,” Bergstrand said. “There’s too much on the line.”

The timing of the market’s reaction is also uncertain. Most investors expected Hollande would edge out Sarkozy and that the two would face each other in the run-off election, Greenhaus said. Since Sunday’s results met those expectations, the initial market reaction may be limited.

One result that wasn’t forecast was the strong showing by far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who ran on an anti-immigrant platform aimed mostly at Muslims. She captured 19.2 percent of the vote.

Those voters may be more likely to support Sarkozy in the second round, rather than Hollande, Bryson said. That raises Sarkozy’s chances, Bryson said, “and that’s the market’s preferred outcome.”

A stronger combined showing by Hollande and a far-left candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, would have unnerved markets more in the short run, he added.

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