President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Greek leaders that they need to push through new reforms or risk letting the country go bankrupt. Greece is hoping the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission will release a second installment of $170 billion in loans. Without that money, Greece will likely default when a bond repayment comes due March 20.

In Greece, talks between the prime minister and leaders of parties backing his coalition government were postponed for a day, even as European leaders prodded the government to push through new spending cuts, layoffs and other austerity measures.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 49 points to 12,813 as of 2 p.m. Eastern time. Travelers Cos. Inc. led the Dow lower with a 1.5 percent decline.

In other trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4 points to 1,341. The Nasdaq composite fell 7 points to 2,897.