President of the United States (US), Joe Biden gave indicators that Russia is planning to attack Ukraine while Moscow accused Washington of ignoring safety demands, causing the price of gold and safe-haven bills to soar.
The global equity benchmark shrunk by more than 1% even though the eurozone posted solid corporate gains on the back of a tense crisis.
The Crisis That Continues To Shake The Stock Market
Wedbush Securities Los Angeles' director of equity trading, Michael James, said selling activity on Wall Street was buoyant over the past session and the ongoing geopolitical crisis has sent stock market turbulence.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.69% while MSCI's worldwide share benchmark closed low at 1.49%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.78%, the S&P lost 2.12% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.88%.
MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares rose 0.15% on signs the Federal Reserve (Fed) is less aggressive in stimulating sentiment.
Investors are seen buying royal bonds, where the yield on the 10-year treasury note fell 7.5 per cent at 1.970% while Germany's 10-year royal bond fell 0.2 per cent at 0.229% following the Ukraine crisis and US data were weaker than expected.
The geopolitical crisis has caused panic among investors, as well as the efforts of the Fed and other central banks in battling high global inflation.
The dollar index, which is well-known as a safe-haven, initially rebounded and then flat before dipping, indicating that investors are still not panicking about the geopolitical crisis.
However, the Japanese Yen was up 0.48% at 114.91 per dollar while the dollar index was down 0.007%.
The euro was down 0.11% at $1.1361.
The Impact of the Crisis on Commodities
Gold prices rose above $1,900 for the first time since June while US gold fronts were up 1.6% at $1,902 an ounce.
Gold prices lost more than 2%, with US crude down $1.90 at $91.76 a barrel and Brent oil down $1.84 at $92.97.
