Stock futures rose Wednesday morning to recover some losses after a volatile start to the week, as concerns over the impact of the punitive measures countries and companies have taken against Russia weighed on U.S. equity markets.
The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq each looked to open higher by more than 1%. A day earlier, 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.
Crude oil prices pulled back from 14-year highs but still held at elevated levels after President Joe Biden’s formal announcement Tuesday that the U.S. would be banning Russian imports of crude oil and other energy products. West Texas intermediate crude hovered just above $120 per barrel, and Brent crude traded around $125 per barrel Wednesday morning. 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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7:22 a.m. ET: Stocks point to a higher open, Dow futures gain 450+ point
Here’s where markets were trading Wednesday morning:
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S&P 500 (^GSPC): +64.75 points (+1.55%) to 4,233.50
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Dow (^DJI): +459.00 (+1.41%) to 33,061.00
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Nasdaq (^IXIC): +257.50 (+1.94%) to 13,524.50
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Crude (CL=F): -$2.81 (-2.27%) to $120.89 a barrel
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Gold (GC=F): -$21.60 (-1.06%) to $2,021.70 per ounce
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10-year Treasury (^TNX): +3.9 bps to yield 1.91%
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6:10 p.m. ET Tuesday: Stock futures open lower
Here’s where stocks were trading Tuesday evening:
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S&P 500 futures (ES=F): -11.50 points (-0.28%) to 4,157.25
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Dow futures (YM=F): -44 points (-0.13%) to 32,558.00
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Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): -53.25 points (-0.4%) to 13,213.75
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Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter
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