—- Nearly all stock indexes are down as investors sell stocks ahead of the long U.S. holiday weekend. Concerns grow over the increasingly tense situation in Ukraine with the United States warning of a possible Russian invasion of the country.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 34,079.18, down 658.88, or -1.90%.
- The S&P 500 closed at 4,348.87, down 69.77 or -1.58%.
- The NASDAQ closed at 13,548.07, down 243.09, or -1.76%.
—- Crude oil futures ended lower on signs of progress in talks over the Iran nuclear deal. This could lead to Iran exporting oil to the world market again.
- WTI crude futures slipped 2.2% on the week to $91.07 per barrel.
- BRENT crude oil futures fell 1% to $93.54 a barrel last week.
—- Gold had a strong last week with tensions in Ukraine and rising inflation around the world driving demand for safe havens like gold.
- The price of gold rose last week by 3.1% to $ 1,899.8 per ounce.
- The silver price rose last week by 2.13% to $23.992 per ounce..
- The platinum contract rose 5.13% to $1,076.8 an ounce.
- Palladium rose 3.07% to $2,337.90 per ounce.
—- The U.S. dollar strengthened against major currencies in the currency basket as investors continue to monitor tensions in Ukraine and buy the dollar as a safe haven.
- The dollar index against the six major currencies in a basket of currencies rose 0.26% to 96.0440.
- The US dollar strengthened against the yen at 115.08 yen from 114.90 yen.
- The US dollar strengthened against the Swiss franc at 0.9211 francs from 0.9201 francs.
- The US dollar strengthened against the Canadian dollar at 1.2742 Canadian dollars from 1.2705 Canadian dollars.
- The euro was lower against the dollar at $1.1337 from $1.1368.
- The pound fell to $1.3605 from $1.3624.
- The Australian dollar fell to $0.7187 from $0.7195.