US stocks fall as major indexes cap off first losing quarter in 2 years amid Fed moves and war in Ukraine
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- Stocks dropped Thursday, and US indexes notched their first losing quarter since 2020.
- The Biden Administration announced the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day for the next six months.
- Economist Mohamed El-Erian warned that financial tightening and inflation are driving uncertainty.
US stocks traded in the red to close the last day of the month, capping off their first negative quarter since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 ended the quarter down by a little over 4%. The Down Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 4.6% and 9.1%, respectively. Stocks in the quarter were buffeted by extreme volatility stemming from the Federal Reserve's monetary policy shift and the war in Ukraine. Disruptions to supply of numerous commodities have stoked inflation fears further, and commentators have warned in recent weeks that the US is teetering on the edge of either stagflation or a coming recession.
Oil prices on Thursday plunged on the news that the Biden Administration is weighing the largest-ever release of oil from its strategic petroleum reserves.
"The scale of this release is unprecedented: the world has never had a release of oil reserves at this 1 million per day rate for this length of time. This record release will provide a historic amount of supply to serve as a bridge until the end of the year when domestic production ramps up," the White House said in a statement.
Here's where US indexes stood as the market closed 4:00 p.m. on Thursday:
- S&P 500: 4,530.49, down 1.56%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,678.55, down 1.56% (550.26 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 14,220.52, down 1.54%
Shares of UiPath, a favorite among Ark Invest's ETFs, plunged 25% Thursday after its fourth-quarter earnings revealed underwhelming guidance, adding to the woes of innovative growth names.
Top economist Mohamed El-Erian wrote in a Bloomberg op-ed that Russia's war is pushing investors into private markets as they look to boost returns and limit risk. The threat of financial tightening, inflation, and geopolitical tensions have raised the risk of uncertainty, he said.
In Russia, Putin threatened to shut off gas exports to countries that don't pay in rubles beginning April 1, but the Kremlin offered some wiggle room on the proclamation. The country's foreign currency and gold reserves have plunged by more than $38 billion since the Ukraine war began, according to the Russian central bank.
Additionally, Russia avoided default once again as JPMorgan processed a dollar-denominated bond payment Thursday.
Oil dipped on news of the release of strategic reserves, with West Texas Intermediate down 6.4088% to $100.91 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped 5.43% to $107.42 a barrel.
Gold inched higher by 0.2682% to 1,944.20 per ounce. The 10-year yield was down 0.0029% to 2.329.
Bitcoin slipped 3.04% to $45,567.46.
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