Stocks finished Thursday in the red after a choppy day of trading amid the Russia-Ukraine war. The Consumer Price Index showed inflation at the highest level since 1982. Bank of America recommends buying the dip in stocks, and Fundstrat’s Tom Lee still sees upside for a rally. Loading Something is loading.
Stocks closed Thursday’s session in the red after a volatile afternoon of trading amid Russia-Ukraine war and another hot inflation reading.
Consumer Price Index data showed prices rising in February at the fastest rate since 1982. Prices rose 7.9% year-over-year last month, matching the median economist estimates. The reading comes ahead of next week’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, during which the Federal Reserve is expected to initiate the first of several rate increases this year, in part to tame high inflation.
Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia yielded little progress. Markets have been whipsawed by volatility stemming from the crisis, with commodities in particular making eye-popping moves amid threats of supply disruptions.
Here’s where US indexes stood as the market closed at 4 p.m. on Wednesday:
S&P 500: 4,259.52, down 0.43% Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,174.07, down 0.34% (112.18 points)Nasdaq Composite: 13,129.96, down 0.95% Goldman Sachs announced it was pulling its business out of Russia, becoming the first major Wall Street bank to cut ties with the warring nation.
The Dow could be on the verge of a shakeup, following the stock splits from Amazon and Apple. Bank of America analysts noted that investors should buy the current dip in the stock market, because geopolitical dips historically bounce back within a few months.
JPMorgan analysts said that commodities shocks for consumers is a greater risk amid war in Ukraine than the impact of US corporate earnings.
Fundstrat’s Tom Lee expects the S&P 500 to rally to 5,100 or higherby the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the Chinese tycoon that lost billions betting against nickel, reportedly wants to keep shorting the commodity, which could lead to continued high volatility. Elsewhere in commodities markets, a wheat ETF briefly ran out of shares to sell to investors.
Oil prices pulled back. West Texas Intermediate crude is down more than 2.1% to $106.35 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was down about 1.1% to $109.92 a barrel.
Gold traded up at 2,007.40 per ounce. The 10-year Treasury yield was up to 1.986.
Bitcoin slipped 5.79% to $39,509.29.
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