Currency traders watch monitors in the foreign exchange trading room at the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. Asian stocks fell on Friday after a retreat on Wall Street as stocks Growing concerns that Russia could invade Ukraine have rattled global financial markets. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
PA
Stocks fell in afternoon trading on Wall Street on Friday as major indexes head for their second straight weekly loss after another round of turbulence rocked markets.
Selling lost some momentum in the afternoon, although the indices were still in the red. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% at 3:11 p.m. ET. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 81 points, or 0.2%, to 34,228 and the Nasdaq fell 0.6%.
Markets have been choppy all week as investors watch the latest developments in Ukraine, where Russia has amassed troops on the border. Tensions are another concern for investors as they try to determine how the economy will react to rising inflation and impending interest rate hikes.
“Investors are facing geopolitical risks, Fed tightening and valuation spikes,” said Peter Essele, head of portfolio management for Commonwealth Financial Network. “Any time you get that kind of trifecta scenario, you’re going to see volatility.”
Inflation remains a major concern as businesses continue to grapple with supply chain issues and higher costs, prompting warnings that operations will suffer throughout 2022. General Electric fell 5 .2% after warning that inflation pressure and supply chain issues had hurt several of its businesses such as healthcare, renewable energy and aviation. He expects the problems to persist for at least the first half of the year.
Video streaming company Roku fell 22.5% after giving investors a weak revenue forecast and warning of ongoing supply chain issues.
Weakness in several large tech stocks, which carry more weight on indexes due to their size, helped drag the market down overall. Intel fell 4.9%.
Retailers and travel-related businesses also lost ground. Amazon lost 0.6% and Royal Caribbean fell 1.1%
Companies considered less risky investments, such as utilities, held up better than the rest of the market.
Bond yields fell. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.93% from 1.97%.
Tensions over Russia and Ukraine escalated throughout the week, throwing a snowball as markets focused more on inflation, central bank monetary policy and economic growth. The United States has issued some of its clearest and most detailed warnings yet of how a Russian invasion of Ukraine might unfold, and its Western allies have been on high alert for any attempt by the Kremlin to create a false pretext for a new war in Europe.
Russia is a major energy producer and military conflict could disrupt energy supplies and make energy prices extremely volatile.
Investors are still focused on the Federal Reserve and its plan to hike interest rates to fight rising inflation. The final minutes of a meeting of Fed policymakers confirmed that the central bank intends to act decisively to fight inflation with higher interest rates. Wall Street is trying to look ahead to determine how more aggressive Fed monetary policy will impact markets, especially after years of more supportive ultra-low interest rate policies.
New York Federal Reserve Chairman John Williams said on Friday that the central bank should start raising interest rates next month to help contain too-high inflation. But he added that rate hikes may not need to start as strong as some have suggested.
“I personally don’t see any compelling case for taking a big step early,” Williams said following an event at New Jersey City University to discuss the economy and interest rates.
