U.S. equity futures ticked lower in post-market trading Monday after a sell-off in the earlier session that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average fall into correction territory and the Nasdaq enter a bear market. Investors continued to jettison stocks and stockpile safe-haven assets as concerns over the economic consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine intensified.
Futures tied to Wall Street’s main benchmarks dipped slightly heading into overnight trading. Contracts on the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were each down about 0.3% Monday evening.
Energy prices spiked over the weekend and into Monday amid talks Western nations may add an import ban on Russian crude oil to their growing list of financial penalties against Moscow. Reuters reported the U.S. may follow through on an embargo without the participation of allies in Europe after President Joe Biden held a conference call with the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom Monday seeking their support for a Russian oil ban.
Russian energy products comprise only 7.9% of total petroleum imports, including crude oil, in the U.S., but European countries rely more heavily on Russian crude oil and natural gas for energy.
WTI crude oil futures marked their most volatile day of 2022 on Monday — oscillating nearly 13%, while Brent crude oil futures hit $137 per barrel, the highest price since July 2008. Meanwhile, gold futures rallied past $2,000 per ounce for the first time in 18 months.
“What we’re seeing is the reminder that volatility is a feature of financial markets,” Brown Brothers Harriman chief investment strategist Scott Clemons told Yahoo Finance Live. “I would be very nervous about energy, not only because of how it’s done, but as a reminder, geopolitical unrest like this can lead to a spike in oil prices — and they can be quite scary — but they can also resolve rather quickly.”
“We’re seeing a lot of energy companies that have run away far on the upside anticipating not just elevated prices of the underlying commodity but extended elevated prices,” Clemons said. “That is certainly a possible…
..
