US close: Stocks fall amid mixed data, Ukraine invasion intensifies

wall street dl us usa stocks shares dow jones s — Wall StreetFlickr (PD)

Wall Street's main market indices were in the red at the close on Thursday, following the release of a mixed batch of economic data. While investors kept a wary eye on the latest developments in Ukraine.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session down 0.29% at 33,794.66, as the S&P 500 lost 0.53% to 4,363.49 and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.56% weaker at 13,537.94.

Sentiment was grim amid news of intensified bombing of Ukrainian cities as the Russian fleet headed towards the Ukrainian port of Odessa, and with around one million war refugees now having reportedly already fled the country.

Delegations from Ukraine and Russia held a second meeting, but no particular progress was made.

When asked overnight whether the US might cut Russian oil and gas imports, president Joe Biden said that "nothing is off the table", although an immediate move appeared unlikely due to the risk it could boost profits for Russian companies while hitting the American economy.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, however, backed banning imports of Russian oil.

Some observers were musing the need to offer Moscow potential 'off ramps' in order to try and deescalate the situation, rather than piling on massive sanctions.

Of those was Bloomberg's Clive Crook, who noted that for the US and Europe to work explicitly towards regime change in Moscow would be "extraordinarily risky" even if the current "drastic economic measures" were intended to "destroy the Russian economy and maybe lead to the overthrow of its government."

“If the regime change scenario happens, this tension will be applauded as a necessary part of a brilliant strategy.

“If it doesn’t, the allies might regret failing to offer Putin an off-ramp.”

In economic news, fresh data from the Department of Labor revealed that the downwards trend in initial US jobless claims had resumed.

Growth in the US services sector slowed more sharply than expected in February, however, according to the Institute for Supply Management's closely-followed purchasing managers' index (PMI).

The PMI slipped from a reading of 59.9 in January to reach 56.5, falling well short of consensus forecasts for a reading of 61.1.

In equities, electronics retailer Best Buy jumped 9.22% after it beat quarterly profit expectations.

Victoria’s Secret was ahead 1.77% after it also beat Wall Street estimates on sales and profit, although the lingerie and body spritz peddler warned shareholders inflation would be a hindrance to growth going forward.

On the downside, enterprise software developer Okta tumbled 8.06% on the back of a disappointing set of fourth quarter numbers.

Dow Jones - Risers

Walmart Inc. (WMT) $139.29 2.30%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $232.64 1.77%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $125.83 1.67%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $168.36 1.47%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $156.22 1.35%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $46.72 1.24%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $194.85 1.16%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $54.66 0.96%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $59.58 0.79%
3M Co. (MMM) $148.20 0.73%