Stock market news live updates: Stock futures open lower to extend earlier declines

Market Trading EssentialsMarch 8, 2022

3 minutes read

Stock futures opened lower Tuesday evening following another volatile session on Wall Street.

Concerns over the impact that the punitive measures countries and companies have taken against Russia have weighed on U.S. equity markets. The S&P 500 dropped another 0.7% on Tuesday to bring its year-to-date losses to 12.5%. The Dow shed more than 0.5% to sink further into a correction, while the Nasdaq Composite extended losses after sliding into a bear market earlier this week.

President Joe Biden’s formal announcement that the U.S. would be banning Russian imports of crude oil and other energy products confirmed speculation from earlier this week, and sent oil prices up to hold near 14-year highs. West Texas intermediate crude held well above $120 per barrel, and Brent crude hovered around $130 per barrel. Gas prices at the pump also spiked to a fresh high across the U.S.

“You can’t have the rise at the fuel pumps not hit the economic pockets of everyday Americans, because it’s going to make everything go up in costs,” Victoria Greene, G-Squared Private Wealth founding partner, told Yahoo Finance Live. “Anything that rides on four wheels or six wheels, including all your shipping — it’s going to make all your costs rise. We’re already in an inflationary environment … it really is going to be something that we have to watch.”

“I don’t think that sanctions are going to go away,” she added. “The world is … angry at this situation. So let’s say miraculously we get a ceasefire tomorrow, I think the general shrinkage and the issues with supply chains are going to be a sticky situation for the rest of the year.”

And beyond the growing list of government-imposed sanctions against Russia, a myriad of major U.S. companies announced fresh plans to stop doing business in Russia for the foreseeable future. In the restaurants space, McDonald’s (MCD), Starbucks (SBUX), Coca-Cola (KO) and PepsiCo (PEP) said they would close some or all operations in Russia. Amazon Web Services said it would stop bringing on new sign-ups from Russia and Belarus, and Shopify announced it was suspending operations in the countries as well.

Given the ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and push to isolate Russia from the global economy, some strategists suggested investors should brace for more market volatility.

“I don’t think we’ve seen the bottom yet. And I’d like to be more optimistic, but the reason I say this is, when it comes to oil [and] other commodities, we’re still seeing shocks make their way through the system,” Ann Berry, Wheelhouse chief investment officer, told Yahoo Finance Live on Tuesday.

“We’re not done when it comes to oil and gas yet,” she added. “The U.K. and Europe have said that by the end of this year they’ll start weaning themselves from Russian exports – it’s not fast enough. And if the situation in Ukraine doesn’t get better, I do think there’s a scenario here where Europe will be pushed to take tougher actions faster, which is going to send oil prices only one way which is up from where it is right now.”

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