PanamaTimes

Sunday, Oct 25, 2026

Ukraine, inflation fears pummel US stocks but oil surges

Ukraine, inflation fears pummel US stocks but oil surges

With Brent touching $95 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $93.78, talk of $100 oil no longer seems far fetched.

Stocks dropped, while investors sought safety in Treasuries as the U.S. warned Russia could take offensive military action against Ukraine as early as next week.

Risk assets added to weekly losses as the U.K. and U.S. advised citizens to leave Ukraine as tensions with Russia rise. Oil spiked higher as a Russian attack could lead to harsh sanctions from the U.S. Russia has repeatedly rejected charges it plans to invade Ukraine.

The S&P 500 fell 1.9% and the Nasdaq 100 dropped more than 3%, following Thursday’s steep declines amid bets on faster Federal Reserve tightening. Treasuries caught bids, with the 10-year yield sinking 11 basis points to about 1.92%. Oil climbed, with brent crude hitting $95 a barrel for the first time since 2014.

For months, the U.S. has been warning European allies that Russia may be preparing to invade Ukraine, massing almost 130,000 troops near the border and staging the largest joint military drills in years in neighboring Belarus. The U.S. has warned of debilitating economic sanctions if Russia attacks, while the Kremlin says NATO expanding further east or deploying weapons in Ukraine are red lines.


A potential Russian invasion of Ukraine could not only disrupt crude supplies but also may spark retaliatory sanctions by the U.S. Oil prices have soared in recent weeks on speculation that demand will outpace supply as the global economy rebounds from the pandemic.

“The Russia/Ukraine news delivered another body-blow to markets, which were already reeling from stubborn inflation numbers and uber hawkish comments from Fed officials,” Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer for Cornerstone Wealth, wrote in a note. “We may have more downside risk over the coming weeks as markets react to headlines”

Friday’s selloff comes a day after a strong inflation reading and comments from a Federal Reserve official sparked a rout in equities and bonds. Odds increased for faster rate increases, with some traders speculating a hike may come even before the next regularly scheduled meeting in March. Those worries were effectively ended Friday when the Fed signaled it would go ahead with the last of its bond purchases before the program ends next month. The central bank has said it won’t raise until after the buys are over.

Inflation concerns weighed on U.S. consumer sentiment, which declined further in early February to a fresh decade low as views about personal finances deteriorated. The University of Michigan’s sentiment index dropped to 61.7, the lowest since October 2011, from 67.2 in January. Consumers expect an inflation rate of 5% over the next year, up from last month’s reading of 4.9% and the highest since 2008.

“Investors are worried that the economy is also slowing just at the worst time, just as the Fed is about to raise interest rates, which could threaten the health of this expansion and bull market,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. “Add to it the geopolitical tensions and I think it’s very good reasons why we now have the volatility that we do.”

For more market analysis, read our MLIV blog.

Here are the main market moves:


Stocks


* The S&P 500 fell 1.9% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 3.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.6%

Currencies


* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro fell 0.8% to $1.1341
* The British pound was little changed at $1.3551
* The Japanese yen rose 0.6% to 115.31 per dollar

Bonds


* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 11 basis points to 1.92%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 0.30%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 1.54%

Commodities


* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4.3% to $93.78 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 1.5% to $1,864.60 an ounce

–With assistance from Sunil Jagtiani, Akshay Chinchalkar and Robert Brand.

Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
Advertising trick: Pepsi’s Harrier Jet Commercial Led to a $700,000 Court Fight
Why 2027 Could Be a Strong Year for Stocks—and Why the Forecast Is Fragile
Trump’s Top General Seeks an Exit Strategy From Iran War, Report Says
Brock Lesnar Retires From Wrestling, Closing a Career of Rare Athletic Range and Lasting Controversy
Trump-Era Policy Shifts Test the Boundaries of U.S. Institutions
Weight-Loss Drug Boom Tests the Limits of Prescription Advertising Rules
Breaking With the Past: One of the World’s Smallest Countries Changes Its Name
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
Cuba’s Grid Fails Again as Fuel Crisis Deepens
Nazca Lines Flight Crash Kills Thirteen as Peru Suspends Aerodiana
OpenAI Faces Demands for Full Disclosure After Models Breach Hugging Face
FIFA’s Private-Investment Plan for World Cup Rights Draws European Revolt
Why Americans Queue for $15 Ice Cream and a $100 Caviar Pint
OpenAI Sued After ChatGPT Allegedly Discouraged Emergency Care Before Near-Fatal Embolism
Miliband Sets Climate and International Law at Centre of UK Diplomacy
Trump Readies New Tariffs as Temporary Global Levy Nears Expiry
Morgan Stanley Builds a Wall Street Lead in AI Infrastructure Finance
High Prices Push Coffee Drinkers Toward Whole Beans and Home Brewing
Spain Defeats Argentina in Extra Time to Win Second World Cup
Venezuela’s Earthquake Devastation Turns U.S. Investment Opportunity Into a Thirty-Seven Billion Dollar Reconstruction Challenge
Ukrainian Drones Strike Wildberries Warehouses Deep Inside Russia
The Ledger Will Not Trust on Faith
Trump Administration Pressures Banks to Restrict Financial Access for Undocumented Immigrants
The Ten World Cup Finals That Defined Football History
Smartphones Are Getting More Expensive, Sales Are Collapsing, and Even Apple Admits: "Prices Will Rise"
The AI Race Enters Its Infrastructure Era
Colombia Influencer Dies After Cosmetic Procedure at Unlicensed Bogota Salon
A Quiet Bastille Day: France Grapples with World Cup Heartbreak and Leftover Fireworks
Spain in Ecstasy: "We Feel Unbeatable, We Taught the Whole World a Lesson"
On the Island That Did Not Yield to Trump, There Is No Electricity, and 10 Million Live in Darkness
World Cup Visitors Turn American Big-Box Stores Into Souvenir Stops
Anthropic Reengineers Agentic Architecture to Shift Autonomous Workplace Automation to the Cloud
Global Crisis Alert: Escalating Middle East Tensions and UK Political Upheaval
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
×