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By Jeffrey
Cane | Wednesday, February 16 A
Kettle of Hawks. Russia showed no
sign of backing down today. Neither did the Federal Reserve.
The former caused stocks to sag in the morning, while the latter helped the S&P
500 eke out a tiny gain in the afternoon. All in all, it was still a risk-off day
after a bleak three-day losing streak had been halted yesterday. For
investors, risks remain on many fronts. Optimism that a diplomatic solution might be
found to the situation on Ukraine's border wilted today after North Atlantic
Treaty Organization Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, said,
"We have heard the signs from Moscow about readiness to continue
diplomatic efforts, but so far, we have not seen any de-escalation on the
ground." The major European stock indexes -- the FTSE
100 in London, the CAC 40 in Paris, and Germany's
Dax -- closed modestly lower. Amid the continued nervousness over
potential conflict, crude oil futures gained 1.7%,
to $93.66 a barrel. The traditional safe-haven of gold
rose 0.8%, to $1870.20 an ounce. The U.S. dollar was slightly weaker
against other major currencies. U.S. stocks were also lower until the
minutes of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting in January were released at 2
p.m. The minutes did not reveal anything new
about the direction the Fed is likely to take. But discussion reflected in
them was seen as less-hawkish than some recent commentary has been, and
stocks recovered lost ground in the afternoon to end little changed. Ian
Shepherdson, chief
economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote: January's FOMC minutes
shed no further light on the Fed's near-term intentions. But they do make it
clear that the aggressive approach to balance sheet runoff favored by St.
Louis Fed President Jim Bullard is not universally
shared, with only "a number of participants” thinking that “...
conditions would likely warrant beginning to reduce the size of the balance
sheet sometime later this year.” The S&P 500 closed up 3.94 points on the
day. Nine of its 11 sectors were positive, as were 300 of its components. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.2%, and
the Nasdaq Composite ended down 0.1%. The Russell
2000 rose 0.1%. The biggest loser in the S&P 500 was ViacomCBS,
which sank 17.8% as investors were unimpressed by the company's revamped
streaming strategy. My colleague Nicholas Jasinski has more here. Shopify tumbled
16% after the e-commerce software company signaled that revenue
growth could slow in the first half of the year. Airbnb reported strong
fourth-quarter results, and its shares rose 3.7%. Crocs also showed robust results, yet its shares
fell 6.4%. Still, the maker of those plastic clogs with the holes
in them has come a long way. The stock is up 126% since it was a Barron's
stock
pick in September 2020. Take a bow, Teresa
Rivas. |
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DJIA: -0.16% to 34,934.27 The Hot Stock: Generac
Holdings +14.4% Best Sector: Energy +0.8%
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