Governments and private businesses alike continued to put more distance between themselves and Russia, sending commodities higher but triggering a slump in equities that sent the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite into a bear market.
Oil soared on Monday as both Congress and the White House reportedly were in favor of moving ahead with banning Russian oil, even if Europe fails to implement similar measures. U.S. crude oil futures jumped 3.2% to a 13-year-high settlement of $119.40 per barrel.
Gold futures, meanwhile, enjoyed their highest finish since August 2020, climbing 1.5% to settle at $1,995.90 per ounce after trading above $2,000 intraday.
Also, over the weekend, Adobe (ADBE), Netflix (NFLX), PayPal (PYPL) and others joined a growing list of companies at least partially shutting down operations in Russia. U.S. equities continued to feel the weight of these moves, however. The financial (-3.6%) and consumer discretionary (-4.9%) sectors suffered the deepest losses in a bright-red day for the broader markets.
The Nasdaq was worst off among the major indexes with a 3.6% decline to 12,830 that put it into bear-market territory, off more than 20% from its Nov. 19 high. The S&P 500 (-3.0% to 4,201) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-2.4% to 32,817) also finished well in the red.
“The S&P 500 posted the worst day since October 2020,” says Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer for financial planner Cornerstone Wealth. “Fear is palpable. There seems to be no evidence of improvements in Ukraine, and the rhetoric out of D.C. continues to get more hawkish.
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“While it’s impossible to know where the ultimate bottom may be, from a risk-reward standpoint, the market looks very reasonable. We’re using weakness to add exposure as we continue to see very little chance of recession over our forecast horizon.”
Other news in the stock market today:
- The small-cap Russell 2000 declined by 2.5% to 1,951.
- Bitcoin tumbled by 5.1% to $37,560.26. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m.)
- Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) was a rare splash of green in today’s trading, jumping 34.2% on news that Ryan Cohen – founder of online pet company Chewy (CHWY) and chairman of video game retailer GameStop (GME) – took a 9.8% stake in the home goods retailer via his investment firm RC Ventures. Cohen believes BBBY needs to explore strategic options, which include separating its baby division, buybuy Baby, according to a letter he wrote to RC Ventures’ board members. Wedbush analyst Seth Basham …….
Source: https://www.kiplinger.com/investing/stocks/604320/stock-market-today-030722
