The US equity markets fell hard for a second day on brewing uncertainty over whether Greece would derail European efforts to curtail the region’s sovereign debt. All three US indexes plunged as news surfaced of the heightened tensions in the Greek nation. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all plummeted to close at 11699, 1226.25 and 2310 respectively. It was the second continuous day of more than 2% losses for S&P and the Dow.

The startling decision by Greece to call a referendum on its bailout, a request made by the Prime Minister George Papandreou late in Monday’s US stock session, reinstalled a cloud of uncertainty into global markets which comes ahead of the two-day Group of 20 summit in France later this week. Analysts opine that the equity markets moved south because of the simple fact-the markets hates uncertainty. Equities had come off at dramatic lows after Newswires quoted a Greek Socialist Party official in calling the referendum as ‘basically dead’.

However, later in the session, the European Commission and the European Council released a statement urging Greece to accept the bailout, which would lower Greek’s debt level to 120% of GDP by 2020 and formulate a new program of loans for the debt-ridden country. Some analysts have confirmed that-should Greek voters reject the nation’s latest rescue package, it could lead to a disorderly default in Greece and bank failures across Europe.

The bearish slide of the equities market have ironically taken place following one of the best October’s on record, with the S&P tallying and 11% rise, its best October performance in 37 year, countering what is historically known as a dismal month for the equities.

An index of Chinese manufacturing declined to its lowest level since February 2009 leading to the fall in the energy products including crude oil. However, the gold prices increased due to the Greek decision. The days ahead will be worth watching as further drama from the Greek nation will surely affect the markets worldwide.