US stocks end lower with Ukraine-Russia tension, Fed officials' remarks

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major indices in the US stock market closed lower Friday amid rising tension between Russia and Ukraine and comments about rate hikes by Federal Reserve officials.

The US accused Russia on Friday of deploying additional troops to the Ukrainian border despite an announcement about a partial military withdrawal, as the conflict intensified.

There was no sign of a Russian troop pullout, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier at the Munich Security Conference.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones was down 232 points, or 0.68%, to 34,079. The S&P 500 lost 31 points, or 0.72%, to 4,348.

The Nasdaq plummeted 168 points, or 1.23%, to 13,548 points.

Despite the ongoing tension, the VIX volatility index showed some pullback, falling 1.3% to 27.75, while the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes fell 2.8% to 1.918%.

The dollar index was up 0.3% to 96.09 as Fed officials continue to indicate future interest rates hikes to tame record inflation.

New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said Friday he sees the central bank steadily increasing interest rates amid high inflation and a labor market recovery.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said Thursday that the bank is more than 300 basis points behind its inflation target.

Precious metals were mixed with gold flat at $1,898 per ounce, but silver gained 0.5% to $23.96.

Oil prices were mixed with Brent crude trading at $93.78 per barrel with a 0.9% gain, but US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down 0.1% to $91.67.