U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Lower Amid Lingering Geopolitical Concerns

(RTTNews) - After showing a lack of direction early in the session, stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages have all slid firmly into negative territory, extending the steep drop seen in the previous session.

The major averages have seen further downside in recent trading, hitting new lows for the session. The Dow is down 260.28 points or 0.8 percent at 34,051.75, the Nasdaq is down 204.90 points or 1.5 percent at 13,511.82 and the S&P 500 is down 41.65 points or 1 percent at 4,338.61.

With the continued decrease on the day, the major averages have pulled back near the multi-month closing lows set in late January.

The sustained weakness on Wall Street comes amid lingering geopolitical concerns as the Ukrainian government and Russian state-controlled media continued to exchanged accusations of cease-fire violations in the eastern part of the country.

News that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken have agreed to meet in Europe next week had eased concerns about an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, but traders remain wary.

Uncertainty about the outlook for monetary policy also continues to weigh on the markets ahead of an anticipated interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next month.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Realtors released a report unexpectedly showing a sharp increase in existing home sales in the month of January.

NAR said existing home sales spiked 6.7 percent to an annual rate of 6.50 million in January after tumbling 3.8 percent to a revised rate of 6.09 million in December.

The substantial rebound surprised economists, who had expected existing home sales to slump by 1.3 percent to a rate of 6.10 million from the 6.18 million originally reported for the previous month.

With the unexpected jump, existing home sales reached their highest annual rate since hitting 6.65 million in January of 2021.

Meanwhile, a separate report released by the Conference Board showed an unexpected pullback by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators.

The Conference Board said its leading economic index fell by 0.3 percent in January after climbing by a downwardly revised 0.7 percent in December.

The dip came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.8 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Sector News

Oil service stocks have moved sharply lower over the course of the session, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index down by 2.7 percent.

The sell-off by oil service stocks comes amid a modest decrease by the price of crude oil, with crude for March delivery slipping $0.30 to $91.46 a barrel.

Significant weakness is also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent slump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Telecom stocks have also shown a considerable move to the downside on the day, resulting in a 1.8 percent drop by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.

Tobacco, biotechnology and computer hardware stocks have also moved notably lower amid broad based weakness on Wall Street.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both dipped by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the notable upward move seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4.5 basis points at 1.927 percent.