Wall Street Opens Mixed on New Russia Sanctions; Twitter Gains; Dow up 120 Pts
2022.04.05 17:06
By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com — U.S. stock markets opened mixed on Tuesday, struggling for direction as both the U.S. and Europe ratcheted up the sanctions pressure on Russia.
On Monday, the U.S. Treasury had confirmed that it will stop Russia from servicing its foreign debt with dollars held in the U.S. banking system, forcing it to draw down reserves at the central bank instead. Earlier Tuesday in Europe, EU leaders proposed their first sanctions on Russian energy, albeit on coal, rather than on the oil and gas exports that bring Russia most of its export earnings. Both measures are relatively modest, incremental steps that reflect still-high levels of reluctance in Europe to accept economic pain as a necessary measure to end the war, even after evidence emerged at the weekend of atrocities committed by Russian troops against Ukrainian civilians.
By 9:45 AM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 126 points, or 0.4% at 35,048 points. The broader-based S&P 500 was up by less than 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite was down by 0.4%, losing some of the sheen it gained on Monday thanks to Elon Musk’s announcement of a stake in Twitter (NYSE:TWTR).
Twitter stock continued to gain in early dealings, rising 6.4% after the social media giant offered Musk a board seat.
