The Day’s Results
? Standard & Poor’s 500: -0.74 percent to 1,854.73
? Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.94 percent to 16,168.03
? NASDAQ: -0.72 to 4,277.30
Stocks on Wall Street faltered across the board in Monday’s session, as investors were clearly too rattled by the pace and scope of the weekend’s events on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula to find any encouragement in positive economic data.
Russia’s parliament gave President Vladimir Putin the green light to deploy the army to Eastern Ukraine on Saturday, in order to protect vital interests in the wake of a popular uprising that unseated the elected head of state Viktor Yanukovich, a key Russian ally. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been docked in the Ukrainian port city of Sevastopol since the days of the Soviet Union, and much of Russia’s oil and gas exports flow to Europe through its Southeastern neighbor, and any escalation of the conflict to open hostility could wreak serious havoc throughout the global economy.
So unsettled were investors by the course of events that the Commerce Department’s report indicating that consumer spending rose by 0.40 percent during the month of January, beating expectations by a factor of two, went completely ignored.
Our Top Stories
? Despite soaring crude prices on the day,major-integrated oil producers all struggled as a result of events over the Ukraine-Russia border.
? Equities.com’s IPO expert Francis Gaskins reports on what to expect from this week’s offerings
? Senior Editor Jacob Harper on former smartphone giant BlackBerry’s ($BBRY) 2014 rally.
? Senior Editor Joel Anderson looks in to drug-manufacturer Dendreon Corporation’s ($DNDN) 20 percent gains during Monday’s session.
On the S&P 500
Large financial institutions were forced to take losses on Monday, with Citigroup (C) , JPMorgan Chase (JPM) , Bank of America (BAC) , and Wells Fargo (WFC) all sensitive to Eastern European turmoil, and were joined by blue chip techs, with substantial losses for Microsoft (MSFT) , Intel (INTC) and Facebook (FB) .
On the Dow
The benchmark index saw every component in the red by the closing bell without exception, with Visa (V) leading the way down by 2 percent, followed closely by industrial firm 3MM (MMM) and Walt Disney Co. (DIS) . Chevron (CVX) , ExxonMobil (XOM) and Boeing (BA) were among the companies whose shares were caught in the panicked selling activity resulting from geopolitical events.
On the NASDAQ
The exchange had some good news stocks despite the sell-off, with green electronics manufacturer Plug Power Inc. (PLUG) was a bright spot in an otherwise dreary day, closing on nearly 25 percent in gains and hitting a new 52-week high as investors expect the company to secure more deals like the one it just signed with Wal-Mart (WMT) . Diversified utility company FuelCell Inc. (FCEL) jumped 11 percent, and Dendreon Corporation ($DNDN) spiked nearly 15 percent by the closing bell with the stock rising on an impressive earnings report that was coupled with the announcement that a prostate cancer treatment it had been working on had been approved for use by European regulators.
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