Wall Street closes sharply lower on anxiety over Ukraine crisis

Wall Street closed sharply lower on Tuesday, with financial stocks bearing much of the damage for the second straight session as the crisis between Russia and Ukraine deepened and sparked anxiety among investors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.76% to 33,294.95 points, while the S&P 500 lost 1.55% to 4,306.24 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.59% to 13,532.46 units.

Most of the 11 sector indexes of the S&P 500 fell, led by the 3.7% loss of financials.

Chevron Corp climbed 4% to close at an all-time high after the oil company raised its share buyback program and operating cash flow forecast through 2026, and oil prices rose.

Russia warned the residents of Kyiv to flee their homes and launched rockets on the city of Kharkov, as Russian commanders intensified their bombardment of Ukrainian urban areas in a change of tactics after their six-day assault stalled.

The conflict has provoked strong retaliation from the West, such as blocking the access of some Russian lenders to the international payment system SWIFT.

“Investors are swimming in a soup of fear and don’t know how to incorporate geopolitical news into pricesMike Zigmont, head of research and trading at Harvest Volatility Management said in New York. “We are facing a purely emotional response from investors”.