NEW YORK (AP) – On Monday, US markets headed downward due to rising oil prices and the deepening conflict in Ukraine amid growing calls for tougher sanctions against Russia.
Future contracts for Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500 fell 0.6%. European markets opened lower, and the price of gold briefly rose above $ 2,000 an ounce when investors bought the precious metal, which was seen as a safe haven during the crisis.
Russian troops have been firing rockets at some Ukrainian cities even after Moscow announced another ceasefire and offered several humanitarian corridors so civilians could flee Ukraine on Monday.
A similar temporary ceasefire in two Ukrainian cities failed over the weekend – and both sides blamed each other.
The speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said that the House of Representatives is studying legislation to further isolate Russia from the world economy, including a ban on imports of its oil and energy products to the United States
Oil prices came under additional pressure after Libya’s national oil company said an armed group had shut down two major oil fields. The move led to a drop in the country’s daily oil production by 330,000 barrels.
But reports say US officials may be considering easing sanctions against Venezuela. This could potentially release more crude oil and ease concerns about cuts to supplies from Russia.
In electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, US oil jumped $ 5.21 to $ 120.89 a barrel. A record high was set in July 2008, when the price per barrel of American oil rose to $ 145.29.
This pushed the average price of gasoline in the US above $ 4 per gallon, which has already reached the limit. According to the AAA auto club, the price of regular gasoline rose nearly 41 cents, averaging $ 4 a gallon (3.8 liters) across the U.S. on Sunday, for the first time since 2008.
Brent crude, an international pricing standard, reached $ 139.13 a barrel before falling on Monday. In London, it traded at $ 6.45 to $ 124.56 per barrel.
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond soared to unveiling after billionaire Ryan Cohen’s investment campaign took nearly 10% of the company’s shares and recommended big changes. Cohen is a co-founder of Chewy, which last year took a stake in GameStop, a video game network that eventually named him chairman of the board. Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond jumped more than $ 11, or 70%, to $ 27.84 per share.
At the beginning of European trading, the French CAC 40 fell by 1.2% and the German DAX lost 1.6%. The British FTSE 100 lost 0.7%.
Higher fuel costs are devastating for Japan, which imports almost all of its energy. Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 2.9% to 25,221.41.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 3.9% to 21,057.63, while South Korea’s Kospi was down 2.3% to 2,651.31. The Australian S & P / ASX 200 fell 1.0% to 7,038.60. while the Shanghai Composite lost 2.2% to 3372.86.
“The conflict between Ukraine and Russia will continue to dominate market sentiment, and so far no signs of resolving the conflict are likely to limit risk sentiment in the new week,” said Yep Jun Rong, IG’s market strategist in Singapore.
“It should be clear already now that economic sanctions will not deter any aggression by the Russians, but will rather serve as a punishment due to the consequences for the growth of the world economy. Rising oil prices could pose a threat to firm margins and consumer spending forecasts, ”Yip said.
China said Monday that its exports in January and February rose by double digits before Russia’s attack on Ukraine shocked the world economy.
Customs figures show that exports grew by 16.3% year-on-year, indicating a resumption of global demand before President Vladimir Putin’s invasion on February 24. Imports rose 15.5% despite a slowdown in the Chinese economy that threatens to exacerbate the war.
China’s No. 2 leader, Premier Li Keqiang, warned on Saturday that global conditions were “volatile, serious and uncertain” and that Beijing’s economic goals would require “hard work”.
World markets have recently been troubled by concerns about how high prices for oil, wheat and other goods produced in the region will be, due to the Russian invasion, which is causing already high inflation in the world.
The list of companies leaving Russia has increased to include Mastercard, Visa and American Express, as well as Netflix.
The conflict in Ukraine also threatens food supplies in some regions, including Europe, Africa and Asia, which rely on the vast fertile lands of the Black Sea region known as the “breadbasket of the world”.
Wall Street ended last week with a fall in stocks, despite a much stronger report on jobs in the U.S. than economists expected. The S&P 500 fell 0.8% to 4,328.87, posting its third weekly loss in four. Now it is less than 10% of the record set earlier this year.
In foreign exchange trading, the US dollar rose to 115.20 Japanese yen from 114.86 yen. The euro was worth $ 1,0905, compared to $ 1.0926. The Russian ruble has depreciated by another 3% and still costs less than one US penny and is 0.0082.
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