NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – Concerns about an economic slowdown as a result of the Ukraine war have pushed Wall Street noticeably into the red. The major stock indices posted losses again on Wednesday after gains the previous day. Statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin that “enemy states” should pay for natural gas in rubles weighed on the mood. This news caused oil prices to rise again, fueling fears of rising prices overall and thus of a significant economic slowdown.
The leading US index Dow Jones Industrial fell by 1.29 percent to 34,358.50 points. The market-wide S&P 500 lost 1.23 percent to 4456.24 points. After strong fluctuations, the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 selection index fell by 1.41 percent to 14,447.55 points.
US President Joe Biden has meanwhile arrived in Brussels. Summits of NATO, the group of seven important industrialized countries and the European Union will take place there on Thursday to organize further action against Russia at the highest level one month after the attack on Ukraine.
The talks are also said to be about new economic sanctions against Russia and the question of possible import bans on Russian crude oil. The US has already decided that it no longer wants to buy Russian oil.
Commodity expert Carsten Fritsch from Commerzbank commented on the current situation that resistance to import bans is still considerable in some EU countries that are highly dependent on Russian oil. A further escalation of the Russian warfare in Ukraine against the civilian population there could still persuade these countries to give in, said Fritsch.
In addition, US monetary policy remains an issue. At the beginning of the week, the head of the central bank, Jerome Powell, had already brought up the possibility of faster increases in the key interest rate in view of the “much too high” inflation rate. Other high-ranking central bankers from the USA had recently made similar statements.
At the S&P 500 end, Adobe Systems shares are down more than 9 percent. The software company had presented surprisingly strong quarterly figures, but was disappointed with the outlook.
In contrast, General Mills’ shares rose by 2.5 percent. The food manufacturer had raised its annual targets in view of higher prices for its products and strong demand.
The stocks of oil companies benefited from the renewed significant rise in oil prices. Chevron gained about 1 percent at the top of the Dow. ExxonMobil shares rose 1.6 percent.
The euro suffered from the deteriorating mood on the stock markets and was last listed at 1.1008 US dollars. The European Central Bank set the reference rate at 1.0985 (Tuesday: 1.1024) dollars. The dollar thus cost 0.9103 (0.9071) euros.
US Treasuries recovered somewhat from their recent losses. The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) rose by 0.46 percent to 123.31 points. The return on ten-year government bonds was 2.30 percent./la/jha/
By Lutz Alexander, dpa-AFX
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