While the battle of whether stocks would finish the quarter up or down wasn’t settled till the final moments, one statistic was clear all day: the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was destined for its worst first half to a year since 2010.
The index closed Tuesday up 0.2 percent for the year, though it broke a string of gains stretching nine quarters. The prospects for higher interest rates, a slowdown in economic growth and Greece’s travails have frozen a market that rose 47 percent between 2011 and 2013.
