By Sam Boughedda
Investing.com – Stocks tumbled on Monday after a weekend of escalating attacks by Russia in Ukraine and talk that the U.S. and western allies might ban imports of Russian oil.
Talk of a ban helped push oil prices to $130 overnight on Monday, though they did ease back in the U.S. session. Still, the concern about supply shocks resulting from the conflict in Ukraine is sending commodity prices soaring to multi-year records.
Gasoline prices in the U.S. are near levels not seen since 2008.
The Federal Reserve meets next week to decide the course of interest rate increases, though many are concerned the Fed might misstep in its bid to tame inflation amid this crisis in Eastern Europe.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week backed a quarter-point rate increase at the March 15-16 policy meeting. He told Congress he would move more aggressively later if inflation didn’t abate.
The Biden administration is considering banning Russian oil imports as a way of turning up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who himself is the subject of sanctions over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
Tens of thousands of refugees continued to stream across Ukraine’s western borders with Poland and other neighboring countries, creating a humanitarian crisis that western allies were rushing to aid. Congress is expected to consider a $10 billion relief package for Ukraine this week.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:
1. Apple peek
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) has its first product event of the year, which is named "Peek Performance." At the event, Apple is expected to announce various product updates, including Macbook and iMac upgrades, while an updated iPhone SE with 5G is highly anticipated.
The iPhone SE is Apple's entry-level iPhone. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives — who has an outperform rating and $200 price target on Apple — told investors in a note Monday that he expects the company to launch its third iPhone SE alongside a revamped iPad Air and a new Mac version.
2. AMC ticket sales
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) recorded its third-highest attended weekend since movie theaters reopened in the summer of 2020. More than 4 million tickets were sold globally at AMC locations Thursday through Sunday, with AMC citing the success of the Warner Bros. release of the latest Batman movie. The attendance outpaced the year-over-year attendance for the same weekend in 2019 and 2020.
3. Oil climbs
Crude Oil WTI Futures prices hit 2008 highs on Monday as the United States and Europe kept open their proposed ban on Russian oil. Analysts warned of record highs of $150 a barrel next, although a survey suggested that Americans may already be driving less, with pump prices of fuel hitting all-time highs.
The U.S. national average for gasoline surged to $4.104 per gallon on Monday, just ahead of the previous all-time of $4.103 per gallon in 2008, before the onset of the Great Recession.
–Reuters and Investing.com staff contributed to this report