Dow jumps 800 points as US prepares sanctions against Putin

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - The Dow Jones gained more than 800 points by the final bell Friday with rising confidence in the stock market as the US prepares to impose sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The blue-chip index added 834 points, or 2.51%, to close at 34,058, posting its largest single-day gain since late 2020. For the week, however, it remained flat, after massive losses throughout the week.

The S&P 500 was up almost 96 points, or 2.24%, to finish at 4,384. It had a weekly gain of 0.8%.

The Nasdaq jumped 221 points, or 1.64%, to end the day at 13,694. The tech-heavy index rose 1.1% for the week.

The White House announced earlier that the US is set to join the EU in sanctioning the Russian president and foreign minister for Moscow's military operation in Ukraine.

The VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, declined 9.1% to 27.56.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes was down 0.26% to 1.967%. The dollar index fell 0.6% to 96.56.

Despite earlier gains as safe-haven assets Thursday, precious metals fell into negative territory.

Gold was down 0.8% to $1,888, while silver fell to $24.22.

Oil prices also retreated. Brent crude was trading at $94.57 per barrel with a 0.9% loss and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate at $91.93 -- a 1% decrease.

Despite huge losses during the previous day, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies regained some losses.

Bitcoin, the world's largest crypto by market capitalization, was trading at $39,150 at 4.18 p.m. EDT with a daily gain of 1.9%.

Ethereum, the world's biggest altcoin by market value, stood at $2,720 with a 3.3% increase.

The cryptocurrency market's total value was at $1.76 trillion -- a 2.65% daily increase.