Stocks Plunge on New Fears About Greece

As Wall Street sees it, it's a bad move.

Stocks in New York and around the world have plunged today, after Greece's government said it would let the Greek people vote on whether to accept an unpopular European plan to rescue the Greek economy.

Greek lawmakers from the prime minister's Socialist party are in revolt over the plan, and the survival of the government could be threatened. The government is facing a confidence vote in parliament scheduled for Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished down nearly 300 points. It swung in 100 point bursts throughout the day as investors reacted to sometimes conflicting headlines about the next steps in Greece's long-running debt crisis.

The Dow plunged 297 points, or 2.5 percent, to close at 11,658 Tuesday. The S&P 500 fell 35, or 2.8 percent, to 1,218. The Nasdaq dropped 77, or 2.9 percent, to 2,607.

Five stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was heavy at 5.6 billion shares.