Dow futures sink nearly 700 points, oil prices spike as Putin authorizes invasion of Ukraine
U.S. stock-index futures were tumbling Wednesday night, extending an earlier decline on Wall Street, as Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
CNN on Wednesday night was reporting a cavalcade of explosions near Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. The assault came after Putin delivered a speech on Russia media announcing the operation. President Joe Biden condemned the invasion as “unprovoked and unjustified.”
How are stock-index futures trading
- Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00,
-2.19% YMH22,-2.19% were down 674 points, or 2%, to 32,392. - S&P 500 futures ES00,
-2.24% ESH22,-2.24% were off 86 points, or 2%, at 4,136. - Those for the Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00,
-2.68% NQH22,-2.68% were down 331.75 points, or 2.4%, at 13,178. - The 10-year benchmark Treasury note yields TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.876% 1.89% overnight after reaching a 3 p.m. Eastern Time rate at 1.976% earlier. - The dollar, which is sometimes viewed as a safe-haven during times of geopolitical unrest, was up 0.4%, at 96.538, as gauged by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY,
+0.51% . - Oil prices shot higher, with benchmark U.S. crude CLJ22,
+5.29% and Brent crude BRNJ22,+5.41% , the global benchmark, up more than 5% and Brent topping $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014. - Gold GC00,
+1.77% was up 1.6% on Globex at around $1,941.70 an ounce.
At Wednesday’s close of regular trade, the Dow industrials DJIA,
What’s driving the moves?
In a televised address, Putin claimed the special operation comes in response to threats coming from Ukraine. He said Russia doesn’t intend to occupy Ukraine and said the responsibility for bloodshed lies with the Ukrainian “regime.”
The Russia president also warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to “consequences they have never seen.”
The action comes as Ukraine had already declared a state of emergency, mobilizing reservists and calling on its citizens to leave Russia immediately amid that threat of a full-scale invasion by Moscow.
U.S. authorities have estimated that Russia has more than 150,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders with Russia and Belarus.
The intensifying conflict came as the United Nations Security Council called an emergency meeting Wednesday night to discuss the developments in Ukraine.
Investors have been on edge since Putin on Tuesday ordered forces into separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, in what he initially described as “peacekeeping” missions.
