Wall Street stocks decline on fears of Ukraine crisis

Wall Street stocks ended sharply lower on Friday for the second straight session, as investors fretted about deepening tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes declined, led by technology (.SPLRCT), down 3.0%, and consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD), down 2.8%. The energy sector index (.SPNH) surged 2.8% as oil prices hit seven-year highs.

With investors already fretting about inflation and rising interest rates, selling on Wall Street accelerated after Washington warned that Russia had massed enough troops near Ukraine to launch a major invasion and that an attack could begin any day.

“We just have to see how this plays out over the weekend and whether or not international leadership can bring this under wraps,” said Thomas Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York. “If not, then the knock-on effects could be material, and that’s what the market is worried about.”

Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) tumbled 7.3%, Amazon.com Inc dropped 3.6%, and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) both lost over 2%. The four companies weighed more than any others on the S&P 500’s (.SPX) decline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 1.43% to end at 34,738.06 points, while the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 1.90% at 4,418.64.

The Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) dropped 2.78% to 13,791.15.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor index (.SOX) sank 4.83%.

US exchanges were busy, with 13.4 billion shares changing hands, compared with a 12.6 billion average over the last 20 trading days.

Wall Street’s latest sell-off follows a slump on Thursday, when data showed consumer prices surged 7.5% in January, the biggest annual increase in 40 years. Comments from St. Louis Fed Bank President James Bullard about aggressive rate hikes have also rattled investor sentiment.