US Market falls on Russia-Ukraine Crisis

The US stock market finished session on Tuesday, 22 February 2022, as investors offloaded risk assets amid heightening geopolitical anxiety after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell 482.57 points, or 1.42%, to 33,596.61. The S&P500 index was down 44.11 points, or 1.01%, to 4,304.76. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index shed 166.55 points, or 1.23%, to 13,381.52. The US market closed on Monday on account of Presidents Day to celebrate George Washington's birthday.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE exchange by 2595 to 750 and 148 closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 1210 issues advanced, 3532 issues declined, and 222 issues unchanged.

All 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes declined, with bottom performing issues were consumer discretionary (down 3%), energy (down 1.5%), materials (down 1.4%), industrials (down 0.9%), and information technology (down 0.88%).

Investors dumped risk assets and rushed to safe-haven assets amid heightened market anxiety after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent and ordered the Russian army to launch what Moscow called a peace-keeping operation into the area, upping the ante in a crisis that could unleash a major war.

Washington and European capitals condemned the move, vowing new sanctions. U.S. President Joe Bidensaid the U.S. will impose sanctions on two large Russian financial institutions, VEB and Russia's military bank, and Russia's sovereign debt as well as Russian elites and their family members. The president also announced the U.S. has worked with Germany to ensure the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will not move forward, with Germany previously halting certification of the pipeline. The U.K. also announced a "first tranche" of sanctions on Russia, targeting five Russian banks and three "very high net worth" individuals.

Also, investors continue to try to assess by how much and how quickly the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates to tame inflation. Some Fed officials have pushed back against expectations that they will begin raising interest rates in March with a larger increase in the benchmark rate, while others have left the door open.

Among individual stocks, Home Depot fell almost 9% after the company reported a decline in profit, as a jump in transportation and labor costs ate into gross margins.

Shares of Tesla fell more than 4%, after news the electric car-maker was hit by another lawsuit, this time by a former construction manager alleging he was fired for reporting widespread safety violations and race discrimination at Tesla's factories.

Among Indian ADR, INFOSYS rose 2.4% to $23.05, Wipro added 2.3% to $7.50, HDFC Bank added 0.48% to $67.27, and ICICI Bank rose 0.45% to $20, while Tata Motors fell 3.4% to $31.55, WNS Holdings sank 0.2% to $84.63, Dr Reddys Labs fell 1.5% to $56.04, and Azure Power Global dropped 6.2% to $14.

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