- US stocks finished lower on Friday as investors remain concerned about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said "progress" was being made in negotiations with Ukraine, but the countries continue to fight each other.
- Comments from Putin led to a brief pop in stock prices that was ultimately reversed as oil prices surged.
US stocks reversed early morning gains and closed lower on Friday as investors remain concerned about Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its impact on commodity prices.
Stocks saw a brief pop early Friday after Russian President Vladimir Putin said negotiations with Ukraine have made "progress" and are seeing "certain positive shifts." But the fighting between the two countries continues, and there are signs this coming weekend will see further escalation.
The whiplash in stock prices following Putin's comments highlights how closely investors are watching the situation between Russia and Ukraine, which has roiled commodity markets and led to concerns of persistent inflation. That inflation has the Fed on track to raise interest rates next week for the first time since late 2018.
Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Friday:
- S&P 500: 4,204.35, down 1.30%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 32,943.40, down 0.70% (229.88 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 12,843.81, down 2.18%
More and more companies are exiting Russia and writing down their assets to $0, highlighting the heavy losses experienced by some multinational companies. Investment giant BlackRock said it is facing losses of over $17 billion on its holdings of Russian assets.
One commodity that is starting to see a surge in prices is uranium, which hit their highest level since the 2011 Fukushima disaster as President Joe Biden weighs sanctions on a Russian supplier of the metal used in nuclear power plants.
Despite the heightened volatility in the stock market amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, economists at ING still expect the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates next week.
"With the economy growing strongly, creating jobs in significant numbers and experiencing the fastest rate of price inflation in 40 years, not even the uncertainty and financial market volatility caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine will deter the Fed from hiking on Wednesday," ING said.
Electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian plunged 9% to a record low after its fourth-quarter earnings revealed 2022 delivery guidance of just 25,000 despite it having capacity to build 50,000 vehicles. The company blamed supply chain disruptions for the shortfall.
China-based Didi plunged more than 40% on Friday after it halted plans to relist its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The move comes as the company is still under a cybersecurity probe by China, and other Chinese stocks fell in unison with the ride-hailing app.
The rotation out of growth and into traditional economy stocks has led to incredible sell-offs in work-from-home stocks that performed strongly amid the COVID-19 pandemic. These seven work-from-home stocks have given up nearly all of their gains and are now trading back to their pre-pandemic levels.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose as much as much as 3.06% to $109.26 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, rallied as much as 3.08% to $112.70.
Bitcoin was flat at $38,493. Ether prices gained 0.32% to $2,551.
Gold fell as much as 1.55% to $1,969.30 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury added 2 basis points to 2.0%.