The Ukraine crisis continues to weigh on stocks this morning, as charges fly back and forth between Washington and Moscow about the large Russian force gathered on the Eastern European nation’s border.
The S&P 500 is off 1.4%, reversing two positive showings that came on Tuesday and Wednesday amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that he is withdrawing some of its troops. But the US has countered that the Russians have actually added soldiers to the border.
“Markets continue to watch events in Ukraine, cycling back and forth between risk-on with the lessening of tensions and risk-off as tensions increase,” Independent Advisor Alliance Chief Investment Officer Chris Zaccarelli wrote in a research note. “This morning, markets are concerned about the Russian troop buildup and a lack of trust in Putin’s declaration that they are beginning to remove troops from the region.”
US President Joe Biden said the US thinks Russia is “engaged in a false-flag operation to have an excuse to go in” to Ukraine. American officials said the Kremlin had added as many as 7,000 troops to its buildup on the border.
Meanwhile, European Union leaders have unanimously approved a set of potential sanctions against Russia if hostilities break out and the situation at the Ukrainian border escalates, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said after a leaders’ meeting on Ukraine.