Dow plummets 464 points as Ukraine declares state of emergency and US warns of imminent attack
Sputnik/Aleksey Nikolskyi/Kremlin via REUTERS
- All three major indexes dropped Wednesday, extending losses after the S&P 500 fell into correction.
- The US warned that Russia is on the brink of an attack, and Ukraine declared a state of emergency.
- The European Union adopted new sanctions against Russian elites and lawmakers.
Major US indexes dropped to extend losses a day after the S&P 500 enter correction territory as tensions continued to escalate between Russia and Ukraine. The US warned that Russia is on the verge of an attack.
Ukraine declared a state of emergency, and urged its citizens to leave Russia as soon as possible. As Kyiv prepares for a Russian invasion, it has called on reserve troops aged 18-60 to serve.
The European Union adopted new sanctions against Russian elites and lawmakers, targeting dozens of "high profile individuals."
Here's where US indexes stood as the market closed at 4 p.m. on Wednesday:
- S&P 500: 4,225.60, down 1.84%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,131.96, down 1.38% (464.65 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 13,037.49, down 2.57%
To JPMorgan's Marko Kolanovic, the recent stock market correction doesn't validate "end-of-cycle" worries, as a rebound in risk assets is still likely.
"The start of policy tightening is usually a confirmation that the cycle has legs, rather than the signal of its end," Kolanovic said.
Meanwhile, the bank's chief US equity strategist said energy stocks are the "highest conviction" sector this year, and also makes for a strong hedge against inflation and geopolitical uncertainty.
Elsewhere in the market, FTX hired a new beauty entrepreneur as it expands into the $300 billion luxury goods market, and the shiba inu metaverse announced plans to sell 35,000 plots of virtual land.
Shares of Virgin Galactic jumped as much as 12% after the company reported smaller-than-expected losses, though the stock pared most of those gains to close higher by about 3%.
Oil prices were mostly flat. West Texas Intermediate crude edged lower to to about $91.89 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, was trading around $96.68 per barrel.
Gold edged up by 0.14% to 1,910.10 per ounce. The 10-year yield edged higher to 1.98%.
Bitcoin slipped 0.22% to $37,535.90