The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined in recent trading at the intraday levels to record losses for the third consecutive session, by -0.49%. It lost the index by -171.89 points and settled at the end of trading at the level of 34,566.18, after its decline in Friday's trading by -1.43%.
22 of the 30 index components declined, with Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. shares declining the most. They decreased by -2.75%, followed by International Business Machines Corp., which decreased by -1.91%, followed by Chevron Corp by -1.56%.
The threat of war sent stock markets lower earlier, after National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said there were indications that Russia could invade Ukraine any day. One of the main concerns is that sanctions on Russian oil will limit global oil supply and raise its price, hurting consumer spending.
Concerns about Ukraine eased somewhat after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested continuing talks with the United States and its allies on security issues.
Tensions soon returned to a peak after Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the United States was closing its embassy in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and moving its operations 340 miles west to Lviv, near the Polish border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Facebook page wrote in an update that Ukraine had learned that Wednesday "will be the day of the attack" by Russia. News reports said confusion surrounded the remarks, and his spokesman later retracted the statement, saying that Zelensky was only repeating news reports.
Technically, the index continues to decline amid the continued negative pressure of its trading below the simple moving average for the previous 50-day period. This began with the start of negative signals on the relative strength indicators, after reaching highly overbought areas, and in light of the control of a bearish corrective wave in the short term.
It continues its movement along a major bullish slope line over the medium term, as shown in the attached chart for a (daily) period.
That is why our expectations continue for more corrective decline for the index during its upcoming trading, as long as it remains stable below the level of 34,690.25, to target the main support level 34,000.
