—- The Dow ended down more than 500 points for the second day in a row on Friday (Feb. 11) due to fears from inflation, rising U.S. interest rates, and the Ukraine situation.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 34,738.06, down 503.53, or -1.43%.
- The S&P 500 index closed at 4,418.64, down 85.44, or -1.90%.
- The Nasdaq index closed at 13,791.15, down 394.49, or -2.78%.
—- European stock markets closed lower Friday (Feb. 11) after the release of inflation data from the U.S., which chased from one high to another. Statements by Federal Reserve (Fed) officials in favor of tightening monetary policy have raised fears that the Fed will raise interest rates more aggressively. In addition, the Ukraine crisis is at Europe’s doorstep, which could have a severe impact on the European economy. The main supplier of energy products, such as natural gas, crude oil, or coal in Europe is Russia.
- The Stoxx Europe 600 Index closed at 469.57, down 2.78 or -0.59%.
- The French CAC-40 index closed at 7,011.60, down 89.95, or -1.27%.
- The German DAX index closed at 15,425.12, down 65.32, or -0.42%.
- The FTSE 100 closed at 7,661.02, down 11.38, or -0.15%.
—- Gold prices also made a big jump last week, rising 1.77% to close the week. The surprising U.S. CPI data, which showed a further increase of 7.5% caused more and more concern. In addition, on the U.S. side, the Ukraine situation continues to worsen.
- The gold prices were up $32.40, or 1.77%, at $1,866.40 per ounce.
- Silver was up 40 cents, or 1.70%, at $23.76 an ounce.
- The platinum contract was down $3.00, or 0.29%, at $1,044.00 per ounce.
- Palladium was up $59.00, or 2.69%, at $2,452.00 an ounce.
—- The U.S. dollar strengthened against the other currencies in the basket of currencies on Friday (Feb. 11) as investors grew concerned about tensions between Russia and Ukraine. In addition, the dollar strengthened due to expectations of an interest rate hike soon to stop the rising inflation rate.
- The dollar index against the six major currencies in a basket of currencies rose 0.56% to 96.0860.
- The US dollar strengthened against the Canadian dollar at 1.2739 Canadian dollars from $1.2717 Canadian dollars.
- The US dollar weakened against the yen to 115.2740 yen from 115.9210 yen.
- The US dollar weakened against the Swiss franc to 0.9250 Swiss Franc from 0.9257 Swiss Franc.
- The euro was lower against the US dollar at $1.1340 from $1.1452.
- The pound fell to $1.3551 from $1.3574.
- The Australian dollar fell to $0.7126 from $0.7170.