The positive feelings on Wall Street were wiped out in a mere hour this morning, as stock prices tumbled in the wake of a double-dip of bad news.
At one point, the Dow was down 130 points for the day. Prices made some recovery before the close of business, but the morning damage was enough to cast doubt over what had been Wall Street’s best week since early summer.
Friday Closing Bell
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,662.91 (-0.30)
S&P 500: 1955.06 (-0.01)
NASDAQ: 4464.93 (+0.27)
Experts warned of geopolitical concerns threatening the market for several days. Their predictions finally came true when Ukrainian forces confronted a Russian convoy early this morning. Meanwhile, consumer sentiment in the U.S. fell to a nine-month low.
The result was a triple-digit dip in the Dow by lunchtime, wiping out almost all year-to-date gains. By the end of the day, some of those losses were recouped, but not enough to sustain the week’s upward momentum.
The Russian armored column crossed the Ukrainian border during the night, triggering an almost instantaneous reaction from Ukrainian forces. This morning, a spokesman for the Ukraine spoke of taking ‘appropriate action’ and boasted that at least part of the Russian group ‘no longer exists.’
Meanwhile, the preliminary consumer index reading registered a 79.2, a full three points below its projected level and the lowest reading since last November.
