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Stock Market News for Mar 8, 2022

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U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on Monday, with the Nasdaq entering bear-market territory and Dow falling into correction territory, as rising crude oil prices stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war raised concerns of an economic slowdown and further rise in inflation. All the three major indexes ended in negative territory.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) declined 2.4% or 797.42 points to end at 32,817.38 points. With this, the blue-chip index entered correction territory for the first time since 2020.

The S&P 500 lost 3% or 127.78 points to close at 4,201.09 points. Consumer discretionary, financials and tech stocks were the biggest losers.

The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) and the Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) declined 4.9% and 3.7%, respectively. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) also gave up 3.7%. Nine of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 3.6% or 482.48 points to finish at 12,830.96 points and entering bear-market territory. Shares of Netflix, Inc. (NFLX - Free Report) declined 3.2%, while Apple, Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) slid 2.4%. Apple has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 13.98% to 36.45. A total of 17 billion shares were traded on Monday, higher than the last 20-session average of 13 billion. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 3.62-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.74-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.

Ukraine-Russia War Escalate Investors’ Fears

Markets hit new lows on Monday following four consecutive weeks of losses as the Russia-Ukraine war continued to dent investors’ confidence. The only positive thing on Monday was that energy stocks continued to perform well as crude oil price hit a new high.

Shares of Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM - Free Report) jumped 3.6%. Chevron Corporation’s (CVX - Free Report) shares gained 2.1%.

However, almost every other sector has been taking a beating since Russia invaded Ukraine late last month. On Monday, Russia continued its hostilities as ceasefire attempts failed.

On the other hand, the White House said that it hasn’t yet decided whether to impose a ban on energy imports from Russia as it looked to extend its sanctions on Kremlin in the wake of the war. Germany also said that it won’t support extensions of sanctions on Russian energy and will continue to import oil, natural gas and coal as it is not self-sufficient in securing its own energy resources.

These factors have been denting investors spirits as they are now concerned that more sanctions could now slow down the economy and could further raise inflation.

Economic Data

In economic data released on Monday, a report showed that the amount of credit people used in January increased $6.8 billion, the narrowest jump in a year. This indicates that household consumers sharply cut down on borrowing in January.

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