S&P 500 dropped 0.8% to 4,3287 due to the conflict in Eastern Europe taking a dangerous turn. Russian President Vladimir Putin was accused Friday of attacking a large nuclear power station. He then took control of the facility. Concerns were raised about the future after a fire broke out at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
Russia claimed Ukraine set the fire off, but the U.S. Embassy Kyiv charged Russian President Vladimir Putin with “a war crime” for what it called the “shelling and destruction of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.”
These concerns led to the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 180 points or 0.5% to 33,614. Nearly 2% fell in the Nasdaq composite.
Over 60% of benchmark S&P 500 stocks fell on the day. Technology and financial companies were the biggest contributors to the decline. Apple lost 2%, while JPMorgan Chase fell 3.9%. Utilities, stocks in health care and companies that could benefit from rising oil prices were among the top gainers. Occidental Petroleum jumped 16.7% to be the largest gainer in the index.
As investors moved their money to U.S. bonds for safety, Treasury yields fell again. Wall Street was also feeling nervous.
“Fantastic” jobs report
All these movements occurred despite a stronger report on U.S. job than economists expected. One that was described as encouraging and even “fantastic” Employers hired more workers than expected last month, and the numbers of jobs for the previous months were updated higher.
Inflation-wise, workers saw a slower increase in their wages last month than economists anticipated. This is disappointing for workers trying to keep up with the rising grocery prices, but it also means that economists and investors are less likely to see the economy heading for what’s known as a “wage spiral.” This cycle would reinforce by causing workers to earn higher wages, which would encourage companies to increase their prices.
Brian Jacobsen (senior investment strategist at Allspring Global Investments) stated that the COVID recovery was fully in bloom in the jobs reports.
He said that the “tricky part” was the future and not the past as U.S. crude oil prices rose above $114 per barrel amid concerns about supply shortages caused by the Ukrainian war. Consumer budgets can be impacted by higher fuel and food prices. High fuel and food costs can be a boon to oil producers and farmers but not for all.
The U.S. crude oil price rose 6.2% to $114.37 per barrel. Brent crude oil, an international standard, rose 5.3% to $116.14 a barrel.
The national average price for gasoline rose to $3.78 per gallon. Experts say this trend is likely to continue as Russia’s war against Ukraine intensifies.
Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics stated in a report that “other than oil prices, war in Ukraine will not have any major effect on U.S. inflation.” “Food prices are still affected more by the extreme droughts on the West Coast and parts of the South than the events in Ukraine.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.73% late Thursday in the midst of safety-consciousness. This is a significant move. As inflation expectations increased, it is now well below the 2% level of last month.
Stocks rose in the middle week, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated that he favors a modester increase in interest rates than many investors had feared. Although the Fed will raise rates for the first-time since 2018, it faces a tricky task because too high rates could cause economic collapse and even a recession.
Powell warned that fighting in Ukraine could lead to more high inflation. Russia is a major oil producer, and prices have been rising since the conflict threatened global supplies.
