NEW YORK, March 8 — Wall Street’s main indexes fell sharply yesterday, with the Nasdaq Composite confirming it was in a bear market, as the prospect of a ban on oil imports from Russia sent crude prices soaring and fuelled concerns about rising inflation.
Oil prices jumped to their highest levels since 2008 as the United States and European allies considered banning Russian oil imports, in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, while it looked less likely that Iranian crude would return swiftly to global markets.Energy, the standout S&P 500 group so far this year, was one of the only sectors logging a gain yesterday, rising 1.6 per cent.
Amazon, Microsoft and Apple were among the top individual drags on the S&P 500 while the financials sector fell 3.7 per cent. The utilities sector, one of the defensive areas of the stock market, gained 1.3 per cent. Stocks have struggled to start 2022 as concerns about the Russia-Ukraine crisis have deepened a sell-off initially fuelled by worries over higher bond yields as the Federal Reserve is expected to tighten monetary policy this year to fight inflation. The S&P 500 marked its lowest closing level since June 2021.