Stocks end another bumpy day lower and crude oil prices ease
Stocks fell and oil prices eased back Thursday after another bumpy day of trading on Wall Street as markets remained anxious about the broader impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Major indexes veered up and down for much of the day before a late-day slide pushed them into the red. The S&P 500 shed a 0.7% gain to close 0.5% lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.6%, weighed down by technology stocks, which accounted for a big share of the market’s decline. The pullback left the indexes on pace for weekly losses.
ADVERTISING
Bond yields were mostly steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 1.85% from 1.86% late Wednesday.
Stocks rallied a day earlier after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he favored a modest interest rate increase at the Fed’s policy meeting in two weeks, bringing relief to investors who had feared he would back more aggressive moves to fight inflation.
“We’ve gotten a lot of clarity on what the Fed plans to do,” said Liz Young, chief investment strategist at SoFi. “But we’ve got this overhanging cloud of the geopolitical risk and oil prices still pressuring sentiment a little bit.”
The S&P 500 fell 23.05 points to 4,363.49. The Dow slid 96.69 points to 33,794.66. The Nasdaq dropped 214.07 points to 13,537.94.
Smaller company stocks also lost ground. The Russell 2000 index fell 26.46 points, or 1.3%, to 2,032.41.
Communication stocks, retailers and other companies that rely on direct consumer spending had some of the broadest losses. Sectors that are viewed as less risky, including utilities and household goods makers, gained ground.
The broader market remains volatile as investors continue to worry about the conflict in Europe along with rising inflation and the impact on economic growth and how central banks around the world act to try and restrain inflation.
The economic fallout from the Russian invasion expanded as Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Ratings and Standard &Poor’s cut Russia’s credit rating. It was S&P’s second Russia downgrade in less than a week. The agencies said the invasion and Western sanctions have hurt Moscow’s ability to repay debts and raised risks for the economy and stability.
The London Stock Exchange said it had suspended trading in shares of 27 companies with links to Russia, including some of the biggest in energy and steel, such as Lukoil, Gazprom, Sberbank, Rosneft and Magnitogorsk Iron &Steel Works.
