US markets end lower as traders monitor Russia-Ukraine war

04 Mar 2022 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Thursday as traders kept an eye on developments in Ukraine, as Russian forces continue to step up their attacks, forcing thousands of Ukrainians to flee the country. Traders remained worried the sanctions imposed on Russia along with the subsequent surge in oil prices could derail the economic recovery even as the Federal Reserve prepares to begin raising interest rates. Fed Chair Jerome Powell appeared before the Senate Banking Committee and reiterated the central bank is likely to raise rates by at least 25 basis points at its meeting later this month. On the sectoral front, airline stocks saw substantial weakness on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 3.3 percent to a three-month closing low. Significant weakness was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent slump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

On the economic data front, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest decrease in first-time claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended February 26th. The report showed initial jobless claims dipped to 215,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level of 233,000. Street had expected jobless claims to edge down to 225,000 from the 232,000 originally reported for the previous week. Meanwhile, a separate report from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) unexpectedly showed a continued slowdown in the pace of growth in US service sector activity in the month of February. The ISM said its services PMI fell to 56.5 in February from 59.9 in January. While a reading above 50 still indicates growth in the service sector, street had expected the index to inch up to 61.0.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 96.69 points or 0.29 percent to 33,794.66, Nasdaq dropped 214.07 points or 1.56 percent to 13,537.94 and S&P 500 was down by 23.05 points or 0.53 percent to 4,363.49.

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