After four consecutive days of gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened lower and fell by double digits as traders waited for the Federal Reserve to move on interest rates. Swimming against the tide, however, were financials led by JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC).

In general, however, spirits were kept low as Mohamed El Erian, chief executive of Pimco, made a prediction that Greece and other European nations would default on their debt obligations.

Boeing (NYSE: BA) led the Dow down, falling by 1.8% as of this writing. Coming off the Paris Air Show with talks of increasing competition and concerns about global economic recovery and the strength of the airline industry with high oil prices has BA down by more than a dollar.

A weak housing report had Home Depot (NYSE: HD) down by about about 0.7% in late trading. Existing sales were down and inventory was up for April in the residential real estate market in the United States.

Among the other stocks down also was Merck (NYSE: MRK), off almost 0.6%.

Rising against the tide were financials, led by JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC).

JP Morgan reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on collateralized debt obligations and will settle for $153 million, leading JPM to rise by 0.5% as of this writing.

This news, coupled with a number of recent articles and commentary about cheap valuations for financial stocks, lifted Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) by about 0.3% in late trading.

3M Company (NYSE: MMM) was also up more than 0.2% percent in trading, rising by 20 cents.  At close to $94, MMM is approaching its 52-week high of $97.95.

Jonathan Yates does not have any positions in any of these stocks.