NEW YORK (AP) – Global markets slid sharply again on Monday morning amid uncertainty over how high oil prices will rise and how sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine could affect the global economy.
Stocks were down, investors sought refuge in gold, and the Russian ruble fell to such a point that at one moment it traded for less than one U.S. cent.
The S&P 500 was down 1% in the morning after several Western countries took steps to isolate certain banks from a major international payments system. The U.S. Treasury Department also announced new sanctions to freeze any assets the Bank of Russia holds in the United States or in the hands of Americans.
The United States said that Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, the European Union and others would take similar measures against the Bank of Russia, which announced that Moscow’s stock market would be closed on Monday.
Oil prices on both sides of the Atlantic jumped more than 3% amid uncertainty about what will happen with oil production since Russia is one of the world’s major producers.
Natural gas, wheat and other commodities also rose, exacerbating inflationary pressures that were already eroding the purchasing power of millions of people around the world.
Seeking steadier gains, many investors moved into U.S. government bonds, which pushed the yield on the 10-year note down by 0.10 percentage point, to 1.88%.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX index fell 2.2%, France’s CAC 40 shed 2.8%, and Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 1.3%.
In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 386 points (1.1%) to 33,672, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 0.9%.
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