Wall Street in decline, prey to the winds of war that blow stronger after the speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, the US stock market has reduced its losses, which in the previous hours saw the futures on the Dow Jones plummet by more than 500 points. At 3.45 pm Italian time, the Dow Jones lost 262 points (-0.77%), to 33,816 points; the S&P 500 retreated 0.29% to 4,336 points, while the Nasdaq retreated 0.21% to around 13,520 points.
Even oil, albeit in strong rally, reduced some of the gains, which saw Brent exceed the $ 99 per barrel threshold, a step away from the $ 100 level, with a flare-up of around + 5%.
The winds of war between Ukraine and Russia have put the US stock market under great pressure in recent sessions:
last week the Dow Jones lost 1.9%, while the S&P and Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6% and 1.8% respectively. Wall Street remained closed in yesterday’s session on the occasion of the national holiday of Presidents’ Day.
Russian President Vladimir Putin stunned the world and the markets with a long speech to the nation on the Ukraine crisis yesterday evening, in which he announced the recognition of the independence of the two separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, in the Donbass of Ukraine.
Putin also ordered the sending of Russian forces to the area with a decree formalizing the move, made necessary, according to the head of the Kremlin, to ensure peace. But for the West it is only the prelude to a true Russian invasion of Ukraine.
However, the war tones of both sides seem to have subsided and rumors circulate on the markets that the sanctions that will hit Moscow will be lighter than feared. For its part, the UK announced that it had imposed sanctions on five Russian banks and three Russian wealthy individuals.
Traders are also focused on the next moves by the Federal Reserve led by Jerome Powell, with a monetary tightening in the March meeting of the FOMC – next March 15-16 – which is taken for granted at 100%.
From the FedWatch instrument of the CME Group, an initial rate hike of 25 basis points is expected from the current value, between zero and 0.25%.
Focus also on the securities of some companies in corporate America that have released their financial statements:
DIY giant Home Depot reported that it ended the fourth quarter of 2021 with net income up to $ 3.35 billion, or $ 3.21 per share, compared to $ 2.86 billion, or $ 2.65 per share. stock, from the same period of 2020. Analysts interviewed by Refinitiv had expected an eps at $ 3.18. Home Depot’s net revenue rose to $ 35.72 billion, surpassing the $ 34.87 billion forecast by the consensus.
Department store giant Macy’s also beat the estimates.
For the quarter ended December 29, Macy’s reported net income up to $ 742 million, or $ 2.44 per share, from $ 160 million, or 50 cents per share, for the same quarter a year earlier.
Excluding extraordinary balance sheet items, eps was $ 2.45, better than analysts’ expected $ 2.
Turnover rose to $ 8.67 billion from the previous $ 6.78 billion, better than the expected $ 8.47 billion. Macy’s said it was rejecting activist investor Jana Partners’ appeal to spin off its e-commerce operations from its outlets. Macy’s shares rose approximately + 8% in the premarket.