US stocks tumble on Ukraine uncertainty

The growing diplomatic crisis over Ukraine rattled markets, producing the deepest declines in US stocks for a single week since January. All three indices fell, with the biggest losses coming in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which sank 387.05 (2.35 percent) to 16,065.67. The broad-based S&P 500 lost 36.91 (1.96 percent) at 1,841.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 90.82 (2.09 percent) at 4,245.40. Wall Street saw a flood of headlines about Ukraine that pointed to a mushrooming crisis. These included a series of aggressive moves by the Russian military in the region; a rise in violence at protests inside Ukraine; and inconclusive talks between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov ahead of a referendum on Sunday on whether Crimea should secede from Ukraine. “Investors fear the unknown,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank. “Investors not only don’t know what’s going to happen, but investors don’t know what the implications of what could happen are.” The US and European allies are preparing sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, which could begin with visa bans on senior Russian officials. “Sanctions against Moscow have already been more or less priced in the market,” said Peter Cardillo of Rockwell Global Capital. “But the greatest fear is an escalation of an economic war between Russia and the West,” he said. “Sanctions are a first thing. Then of course who knows what can happen afterwards?,” according to AFP.