Risk trading hits Wall Street as tensions escalate in Ukraine

A street sign on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange September 18, 2007. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell more than 1% on Thursday, as investors sought safety in bonds and gold as tensions between Washington and Moscow intensified and U.S. President Joe Biden imminently over a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Financial (.SPSY) technology stock (.SPLRCT) It led the declines, down 1.4% and 1.7%, respectively.

Standard & Poor’s FMCG 500 (.SPLRCS) That outperformed, buoyed by a 2.2% jump in Walmart (WMT.N) After setting record sales for the holidays. Read more

Russia expelled US Deputy Ambassador Bartel Gorman and issued a strongly worded letter accusing Washington of ignoring its security demands and threatening unspecified “military-technical measures”. Read more

Biden said there were now all indications that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine after Russian-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces earlier exchanged fire, in what Western officials described as a possible pretext Moscow created for the invasion. Read more

“The wall of concern is fully under construction,” said Terry Sandvin, chief equity analyst at US Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.

“You have inflation that seems to be widespread, and a change in Federal Reserve policy is on the horizon, and then there are ongoing tensions with Russia and Ukraine.”

At 12:06 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 356.98 points, or 1.02%, to 34,577.29 (.SPX) The index fell 49.54 points, or 1.11%, to 4,425.47 points, and the Nasdaq Composite Index (nineteenth) It was down 219.79 points, or 1.56%, at 13,904.30.

nvidia chip maker (NVDA.O) It fell 6.4% as flat gross margins and concerns about its exposure to the crypto market outweighed the optimistic revenue forecast for the current quarter. Read more

TripAdvisor Company (TRIP.O) It fell 2.6% after the hotel search site operator posted a surprise loss in the fourth quarter, while Albemarle Corp. (ALB.N) It fell 17.5% as the lithium producer expected downbeat annual earnings. Read more

Large banks including JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N)Morgan Stanley and Bank of America (BAC.N) It fell between 1.3% and 3.2%. Goldman Sachs (GS.N) Wells Fargo shares fell despite positive news from lenders. Read more

Markets have been in a circular motion this week as geopolitical tensions heightened concerns about the Fed’s tightening plans this year. Losses so far on Thursday put the Dow on track to end the week in negative territory.

Gold jumped to an eight-month high on Thursday and was close to $1,900 an ounce, while 10-year US Treasury yields fell 5 basis points to 1.996%.

Among the other big movers, DoorDash Inc (DASH.N) It rose 6.8% after it reported upbeat quarterly returns as food delivery demand showed no sign of slowing, suggesting ordering habits are permanently changing. Read more

Hasbro (HAS.O) It rose 3.8% after activist investor Alta Fox Capital Management nominated five directors to the company’s board of directors and urged changes including part of the housing unit for games like “Dungeons & Dragons.”

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by 2.04 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange and by 2.97 to 1 on the Nasdaq.

The S&P recorded six new highs in 52 weeks and 10 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 22 new highs and 141 new lows.

Additional reporting by Susan Matthew and Devik Jane in Bengaluru; Edited by Magu Samuel

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