Investors are starting to delay investment decisions, putting more pressure on global sharemarkets as they continue to slump on the growing expectation of a Greek default.
An admission by Athens that it would miss its deficit target of 7.6% of gross domestic product this year re-ignited worries about a Greek default.
Major United States indices fell more than 2%, with financial shares hard hit on a new round of concerns about Greek debt.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre said yesterday the concerns about Greece overshadowed an early boost to markets from better-than-expected US manufacturing data.
"We are certainly getting investor fatigue. Share volumes continue to decline along with the dollar value. Investors are being cautious.
"There is money to invest, but we have reached a stand-off. Investors are waiting to see what happens."
If Greece continued to have problems, it could drag Europe into recession, and possibly also the US, he said.
One of the problems was that European policymakers meeting yesterday appeared no closer to agreeing on a definitive solution to the crisis.
The timeframe to deal with the debt crisis was becoming a problem. The euro zone was unable to make fast decisions, given the 17-nation membership.
"We would have expected the European Central Bank to act now, cutting interest rates or introducing stimulus. But decisions take so long.
"We live in such a 'get it done quickly' world, but the euro zone can't get this done," Mr McIntyre said.
There were signs of the same problems in the US when the increased debt ceiling took weeks of negotiation before it was approved, he said.
The size of the debt was becoming unfathomable for people outside the European Parliament - 3 trillion ($NZ5.26 trillion) seemed an improbable amount of money.
One of the other concerns for brokers was new committees springing up to deal with the European crisis.
The workings of the European Stability Fund (ESF) was an example of the new complexities the broking community had to work with every day to try to glean what was happening, Mr McIntyre said.
No-one knew from where the ESF received its funding.
AP and AFP reported that Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker expected a decision about the next bail-out loan to Greece to come later this month because Greece had said it did not need 8 billion in blocked loans until November.
Mr Juncker "firmly denied" any suggestion that Greece would be allowed to default on its debts.
Concerns that Greece would never dig itself out of its mountain of debt - and the volatility in markets that has accompanied the slow and often halting European decision-making process - had led many observers to urge that Athens simply be allowed to default and perhaps be forced out of the euro.
Mr Juncker, who chairs the meetings of euro zone finance ministers, denied that such a solution was on the table.
"Everything will be done to avoid [a default by Greece] and it will be avoided," he said.
