Oil prices jump, Wall Street drops amid Ukraine crisis tensions
Rising worries on escalation in the Ukraine crisis push oil prices up while most shares decline.
Concerns over escalations in the Russia-NATO crisis on Ukraine and prospects of a tightened interest rate from the US federal reserve sparked a drop in global shares on Friday.
Rising oil prices also increased energy shares by more than 2.8% percent while most of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes showed decline. Also, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 503.53 points, or 1.43%.
"By pushing energy prices even higher, a Russian invasion would likely exacerbate inflation and redouble pressure on the Fed to raise interest rates," said Bill Adams, Comerica Bank's chief economist.
"From the Fed's perspective, the inflationary effects of a Russian invasion and higher energy prices would likely outweigh the shock's negative implications for global growth."
Losses were also deepened with volatile trading on Wall Street after a statement by the US administration claiming that Russia has massed enough troops on its western border to launch a major invasion.