The boost of optimism on Ukraine that gave the markets an early boost could not be sustained. In the end, all the major indexes finished in the red on Friday and the Dow logged its fifth straight losing week, reports CNBC. The Dow dropped 229 points to 32,944, the S&P 500 fell 55 points to 4,204, and the tech-centric Nasdaq fell 286 points to 12,843. Tech stocks in particular dragged down the market, per the Wall Street Journal, though Nike and JPMorgan also were among the top stocks declining.
As has been the case for two weeks, the primary driver of the markets was the news out of Ukraine. “Stocks are looking at another red week, as hope for a ceasefire, only to be disappointed, has added to the uncertainty,” Ryan Detrick of LPL Financial told CNBC before the close of the markets. “You see a sentence out of Vladimir Putin and the markets react to that. Everyone’s on edge,” Joseph Amato of Neuberger Berman Group LLC told the Journal. (More stock market stories.)