:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bloomberglinea/TFEWD6EMHTG2YACVAL7ESU3RJ4.jpg "U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Biden said the U.S. will ban imports of Russian fossil fuels including oil, a major escalation of Western efforts to hobble Russia’s economy that will further strain global crude markets. Photographer: Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg")
A roundup of Tuesday’s stock market results from across the region
🗽 On Wall Street:
In a session marked by volatility, the main U.S. markets closed with losses again on Tuesday, after Monday’s worst day so far this year.
Although at times they registered gains, stock market indices continue to be affected by the war in Ukraine. During the day, the U.S. government announced a ban on the import of oil and gas from Russia, intensifying sanctions against the country following its invasion of Ukraine.
“The United States is targeting the main artery of Russia’s economy. We are banning all imports of Russian oil, gas and energy,” said President Joe Biden during a message from the White House.
The S&P 500 fell 0.72%, while the Dow Jones Industrials dropped 0.56% and the Nasdaq Composite (CCMPDL) slipped 0.28%.
“Trading in U.S. equities has been greatly complicated as the impact of the war in Ukraine continues to drive persistent volatility in commodity prices, which is wreaking havoc on inflation expectations and fueling recession fears,” wrote Edward Moya, an analyst at Oanda, in a note.
🔑 The Day’s Key Data:
Gold again broke the $2,000-an-ounce barrier and touched a 19-month high as investors seek the safe-haven asset amid the crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine.
“As the stagflation scenario becomes increasingly plausible, gold’s appeal is likely to remain high,” wrote Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at brokerage firm ActivTrades.
Concerns about supply disruptions following the sanctions against Russia have pushed up the price of commodities such as oil, wheat and nickel.
Crude oil benchmarks continued their upward trend following President Joe Biden’s announced ban on Russian oil imports. Brent is trading close to $130, while the WTI benchmark is close to $125.
🥇 The Leader:
The Mexican stock market rebounded after recording its second worst day so far in 2022 on Monday. The S&P BMV/IPC (MEXBOL) ended the session with a gain of 1.87%.
The communications, raw materials and financial sectors performed the best on the day.
Specifically, shares of Regional SAB (RA), Cemex (CEMEXCPO) and Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación (VOLARA) were among the best performers of the day.
Mexican cement company Cemex’s gains comes one day after it announced that it will invest $29 million to start up a kiln in the northwest of Mexico, which will allow it to meet the demand on the other side of the border, in the states of Arizona, California and Nevada.
Brazil’s Ibovespa (IBOV), the main index of the largest stock exchange by market capitalization in Latin America, fell 0.35%.
📉 A Bad Day:
Chile’s Ipsa (IPSA) closed with losses and was the worst performing stock market among its Latin American peers.
The index, which closed with a fall of 0.85%, was affected by a volatile session in which the markets moved between ups and downs, affected by the crisis in Ukraine.
In addition, according to a note from Renta4 analysts, local investors have taken advantage of the situation to take profits, after the index was favored by the increase in the price of raw materials.
The industrial, non-basic consumer products and energy sectors were the ones with the highest declines during the day.
The fall also occurred on a day in which the price of copper fell by 3.68%, although it still remains above $10,000 per ton.
🍝 For the Dinner Table Debate:
Apple (AAPL) on Tuesday unveiled its technological innovations, including two new designs: the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro with new color ranges and a new camera system for both devices.
According to the company, the products will be available for pre-order starting this Friday, March 11. In addition, with the announcement of the new A15 Bionic chip, Apple unveiled a new iPhone SE with some of the company’s best technologies.
The company also unveiled the update of one of the most important tablets in its catalog: the iPad Air, taking it to the fifth generation and which will now include the M1 chip to improve its performance.
