A service member of the Ukrainian armed forces takes part in tactical military exercises at a training ground in the Rivne region, Ukraine February 16, 2022.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters
U.S. stock indexes fell Friday and headed for a second consecutive losing week as the Russia-Ukraine conflict loomed.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average shed about 130 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 added 0.5%. The Nasdaq Composite retreated 1%.
Friday was particularly volatile with trillions of dollars in options and futures on stocks, indexes and ETFs set to expire. Option expiration days, which generally occur on the third Friday of the month, can cause the market to swing in a wide range as these positions are closed out.
Stocks have struggled this week as investors continue to be on edge about the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The Ukrainian government and Russian state-controlled media on Friday exchanged fresh accusations of cease-fire violations at the border.
Ukraine on Thursday accused pro-Russian separatists of attacking a village near the border. In the U.S., meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to the United Nations and warned that the situation is at a “moment of peril.”
“Markets tend to overreact to geopolitical events,” Credit Suisse’s Andrew Garthwaite said in a note Friday.
Oil prices dipped Friday morning and energy stocks retreated. Schlumberger fell 2% and APA and Schlumberger each lost around 1%.
Intel was the biggest laggard on the Dow, down about 4%. Bank of America reiterated an underperform rating on the stock.
Roku shares dropped about 26% after the video-streaming company reported a revenue miss and issued weaker-than-expected guidance.
Investors have also been grappling with the outlook for Federal Reserve policy. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who had just called for aggressive action, warned that inflation could get out of control without rate hikes.
The Dow on Thursday posted its biggest daily drop since the end of November. The three indexes are each down around 1% on the week.
“Wall Street is feeling very jittery as it looks to the left and sees intensifying geopolitical risks with the Ukraine situation and then it looks to the right and sees the potential for aggressive Fed tightening,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, said in a note.
