The Dow Jones Industrial Average continued to decline in its recent trading at the intraday levels, to record losses for the fifth consecutive session, by -1.38%. The index lost by -464.85 points to settle at the end of trading at the level of 33,131.77, after its decline in trading on Tuesday by -1.42 %.
The Dow finished just above the level that would have seen its first close in a correction in two years as its S&P 500 counterpart, as all but two of the index's 30 components fell. Chevron Corp. and Johnson & Johnson closed with slight gains, and the most notable stock declining by percentage was Cisco Systems Inc. which fell by -3.30% and Microsoft Corp. by -2.59%, followed by Apple Inc. by 2.59%.
Russian forces launched their expected attack on Ukraine on Thursday, with President Vladimir Putin ignoring international condemnation and sanctions and warning other countries that any attempt to intervene would lead to "consequences they have not seen before." Big explosions were heard before dawn in Kiev, Kharkiv and Odessa as world leaders denounced the initiation of an invasion that could cause heavy casualties, bring down Ukraine's democratically elected government and threaten the post-Cold War equilibrium on the continent.
US President Joe Biden pledged to impose new sanctions aimed at punishing Russia for an act of aggression that the international community had been expecting for weeks but could not prevent through diplomacy.
Technically, the index continued to decline after starting a minor bullish trend line in the short term, as shown in the attached daily chart. There is a continuation of negative pressure below the 50-day simple moving average, and the influx of negative signals on the relative strength indicators, despite reaching oversold areas. The index crossed in its recent trading the pivotal support level 33,271.93.
Therefore, our expectations indicate the continuation of the index's decline during its upcoming trading, especially in the event of confirming its breach of the aforementioned support 33,271.93, to target the support level 32,071.41.
