Stocks continued to fall in midday trading on Wednesday, and the S&P 500 index may record a fourth consecutive day of declines. The market continues to pay close attention to the development of the situation in Russia and Ukraine. The sanctions imposed by many countries on Russia were less aggressive than expected, and Russia said it was still ready to seek a “diplomatic solution.”

The Dow fell 13.32 points, or 0.04%, to 33,583.29 points; the Nasdaq fell 55.53 points, or 0.41%, to 13,325.99 points; the S&P 500 fell 8.74 points, or 0.20%, to 4,296.02 points.

Affected by the escalating situation in Russia and Ukraine, U.S. stocks closed down on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 falling more than 10% from its record high on January 3, falling into the correction zone. On the same day, the Dow closed down 482.57 points to close at 33,596.61 points, the lowest closing price since June 18. The S&P 500 closed down 1 percent at 4,304.76, its lowest close since Oct. 4. The Nasdaq closed down 1.2% at 13,381.52 points.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order on the evening of the 21st to recognize the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic” in eastern Ukraine. On February 22, the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) passed a resolution authorizing President Vladimir Putin to use federal armed forces outside Russia.

The United States announced on the 21st local time to impose financial sanctions on Russia. The United States and its allies and partners decided to impose comprehensive blockade sanctions on Russia’s two large financial institutions, the Russian state-owned Development Bank and the military bank. Russia will not be able to Lending deals in the U.S. and European markets can no longer raise funds.

Following the United States, Germany, Canada, Australia and Japan have also successively announced sanctions against Russia.

Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone, said: “The market sees the various sanctions … as mild and perhaps not as aggressive as feared. For now, one might think that the general feeling across the market is that the Russian military will hold the line. Donbass, but not going any further.”

Rising interest rates and worries over Ukraine have hit investors as central banks around the world begin to take action to curb inflation.

Credit Suisse (8.485, -0.10, -1.11%) senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya wrote in a note: “Multinational sanctions against Russia were milder than expected, which helped to boost risk sentiment to some extent. Of course , with limited risk appetite except for some key assets such as oil and commodities.”

In addition, the latest remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday also helped risk sentiment rebound. Putin said he was still ready to seek a “diplomatic solution” as long as Russia’s interests and security were guaranteed.

Ed Moya, analyst at Oanda, said: “With energy costs soaring, pass-through risks will fully fuel inflationary pressures, which will largely derail the post-coronavirus recovery. Geopolitical risks could lead to a slowdown in the economic growth cycle. , which could reduce the risk of the Fed raising rates by 50 basis points at its March 16 meeting.”

Wall Street sees a 100% chance of a rate hike at the Fed’s March meeting, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool.

On Wednesday’s economic data, Lowe’s, TJX (62.19, -3.06, -4.69%) Companies, EBay, Hertz and others will announce their earnings today.

In other markets, in Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed up 0.6%, and China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed up 0.9%. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.

Natural gas futures in Europe extended gains after Germany said it would halt approvals for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia, with oil prices falling slightly after a brief rise.

Focus stocks

Tesla (772.515, -49.02, -5.97%) CEO Elon Musk said on social media that the company is currently working to bring the game library on Steam to its vehicles. He said the company’s goal is to no longer port individual games to the car’s infotainment system, and the long-term plan is to let car owners play all games on Steam in the future.

Lowe’s announced results for the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2021, which ended on January 28, 2022. According to the financial report, Lowe’s fourth-quarter sales were $21.339 billion, exceeding market expectations, a year-on-year increase of 5%; net profit was $1.206 billion, compared with $978 million in the same period last year; diluted earnings per share were $1.78, exceeding the market It was expected to be $1.32 a year earlier.

Nvidia, Tesla, Amazon (2918.11, -85.84, -2.86%), Meta Platforms, Apple (160.975, -3.35, -2.04%), Microsoft (281.94, -5.78, -2.01%), Google (2570.17, – 17.88, -0.69%), Netflix (369.135, -8.24, -2.18%) and other technology stocks rose collectively.

Barclays’ pre-tax profit in fiscal 2021 surged by about 174% year-on-year to £8.41 billion.

Stellantis’ 2021 revenue will increase by 14% to 152 billion euros, and operating profit margins are expected to reach double digits this year.

Virgin Galactic (8.07, 0.25, 3.20%) recorded revenue of US$141,000 in the fourth fiscal quarter, and its net loss narrowed year-on-year and was better than expected.

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