Market sentiment turned risk-off when Ukraine declared a state of emergency amid fears that Russia would invade and provoke war.
As a result, the stock market began to struggle while the US dollar strengthened while oil futures and treasury yields became volatile.
Ukraine Declares Emergency
The brink of war began to be felt when the Ukrainian government declared a state of emergency and told its citizens to flee Russia while Moscow took out its ambassador from Kyiev.
A senior US official informed that Russia is ready to launch a comprehensive attack on Ukraine.
As a result, the MSCI world index, which initially rose 0.7%, began to retreat in the session and extended its daily loss to end at 1.2%, its lowest level since April 2021.
In addition to concerns about an impending war, investors are also considering the prospect of policy tightening by the Federal Reserve (Fed) in an effort to curb inflation.
However, Spouting Rock Asset Management's head of strategy, Rhys Williams, said the focus was more on the Russia-Ukraine crisis that would trigger a war, so the market would be volatile in the near future.
The Dow Jones Industrial average was down 464.85 points or 1.38% at 33,131.76, the S&P 500 lost 79.26 points or 1.84% at 4,225.5 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 344.03 points or 2.57% at 13,037.49.
The 10 -year benchmark note that fell 13/32 in yield price of 1.9912%, rose at 1.948% during the session, while the 30 -year bond that declined 30/32 in yield price of 2.2963, added 2.253% and the 2 -year note that fell 1/32 in yield price at 1.6016%, canak 1.587%.
The dollar index was up 0.127% and the Euro was down 0.18% at $ 1.1305.
Threshold of the War on Commodities
Brent oil price initially fell 1% then rose again 2% before ending unchanged at $ 96.84 and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 0.21% at $ 92.10 a barrel after falling 1.9% initially and rising 1.7% later.
War worries also affected gold reaching 0.6% at $ 1,908.62 an ounce.
