Stocks closed higher on Wall Street Monday with help from big technology and communications stocks.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% and the Nasdaq rose 1.9%.
Twitter soared 27% following a big investment in the company from Tesla’s Elon Musk. The gains in technology companies helped offset weakness in other parts of the market.
Details are emerging of what appears to be deliberate killings of civilians by Russia during its invasion of Ukraine, raising the possibility of more sanctions. U.S. crude oil prices rose 4%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.41%.
Investors continue to monitor the conflict in Ukraine, where Russia could face even stricter economic sanctions now that details are emerging of what appear to be deliberate killings of civilians.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, joined a growing chorus of international criticism of the alleged atrocities, saying the 27-country bloc “will advance, as a matter of urgency, work on further sanctions against Russia.”
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has elevated concerns about rising inflation and the impact on global economic growth. Prices for everything from food to clothing had already been rising and the war has made for even more volatile energy prices.
The price of U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 4% and Brent crude, the international standard rose 3%. Prices are up roughly 40% globally, which has put pressure on costs for gasoline and other goods.
Bond yields mostly gained ground. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.42% from 2.38% late Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury dipped to 2.42% after having moved higher most earlier in the day.
The two-year yield has been hovering at times above the 10-year yield, which is a potentially ominous sign. Such a flip of the usual relationship between two- and 10-year yields has preceded many recessions in the past, though it hasn’t been a perfect predictor. Some market watchers caution the signal may be less accurate this time, because of distortions in yields caused by extraordinary measures by the Federal Reserve and other central banks to keep interest rates low.
Bond yields have been gaining ground all year as Wall Street prepares higher interest rates. The Federal Reserve has already raised its key overnight rate once, the first such increase since 2018. The central bank is expected to continue raising rates throughout 2022 to help counter the impact from rising inflation.
The Fed is due to release minutes from its last meeting on Wednesday.
Markets in Europe closed higher. Asian markets also rose and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.1% after regulators in Beijing said they plan to revise rules regarding access of overseas regulators to full audits of companies that have shares listed in overseas markets.
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