US Stocks fall amid fears over fuel price surge

8 Mar 2022 , 08:49 AM

The US stock market finished lower for third consecutive session on Monday, 07 March 2022, as investors continued unloading a wide range of shares on concerns about the impact of the surge in oil prices due to an escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict and mounting sanctions against Moscow.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index tumbled 797.42 points, or 2.37%, to 32,817.38. The S&P500 index dropped 127.78 points, or 2.95%, to 4,201.09. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 482.48 points, or 3.62%, to 12,830.96.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE exchange by 2700 to 712 and 119 closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 1219 issues advanced, 3516 issues declined, and 289 issues unchanged.

Total 9 of 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes declined, with bottom performing issues were consumer discretionary (down 4.8%), communication services (down 3.74%), information technology (down 3.7%), and financials (down 3.66%), while top gainers included energy (up 1.57%) issue.

Stocks have struggled to start 2022 as concerns about the Russia-Ukraine crisis have deepened a sell-off initially fueled by worries over higher bond yields as the Federal Reserve is expected to tighten monetary policy this year to fight inflation.

Crude oil prices jumped to highest levels since 2008 after Secretary of State Antony Blinken statement on Sunday that the U.S. and European partners are in active discussions about banning the import of Russian oil in response to the countrys invasion of Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped by 3.4% to $119.61 a barrel. Oil prices touched the $130 mark earlier in the session.

Airline stocks turned in some of the markets worst performances on the day amid concerns about higher fuel costs. Shares of United Airlines Holdings Inc fell 15% and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings dropped 11.6%.

Among Indian ADR, Wipro sank 1.09% to $7.24, HDFC Bank sank 4.8% to $54.48, ICICI Bank fell 6.13% to $16.39, Tata Motors fell 6% to $24.75, and WNS Holdings fell 2.38% to $80.32, and Dr Reddys Labs fell 1.8% to $48.27. INFOSYS rose 0.53% to $22.58 and Azure Power Global rose 5.1% to $16.90.

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