23/02/2022
23 feb 2022 9:21 am ist
🇺🇸 US MARKET UPDATE
Dow falls as Wall Street assesses rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine
The major averages dipped on Tuesday as traders continue to monitor brewing tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 260 points or 0.7%. The S&P 500 was off just 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped by 0.67%. The U.S. stock market was closed Monday due to the President’s Day holiday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that he would recognize the independence of two breakaway regions in Ukraine, potentially undercutting peace talks with President Joe Biden. That announcement was followed by news that Biden was set to order sanctions on separatist regions of Ukraine, with the European Union vowing to take additional measures.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has put pressure on market sentiment recently, with the major averages posting back-to-back weekly losses. The Dow fell 1.9% last week, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite slid 1.6% and 1.8%, respectively.
Traders are also keeping an eye on the Federal Reserve, as the U.S. central bank is expected to raise rates multiple times starting next month. Traders are betting that there is a 100% chance of a Fed rate hike after the March 15-16 meeting, with expectations tilting toward a 0.25 percentage point move, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Expectations of tighter monetary policy have put pressure on stocks, particularly those in rate-sensitive sectors like tech, and have sent Treasury yield sharply higher to start 2022. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield ended last week around 1.93% after briefly breaking above 2%. The 10-year began 2022 trading at around 1.51%.
