US stocks rebound strongly with tougher sanctions on Russia

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US stocks market rebounded to close in positive territory Thursday as President Joe Biden slapped tougher sanctions on Russia after its military intervention in Ukraine.

The Dow Jones lost more than 800 points, or 2.4%, shortly after opening, but the blue-chip index managed to regain the losses to finish at 33,223 points with a daily gain of 0.28%.

The S&P 500 dove 0.2% after the opening bell but rebounded to end the day at 4,288 points -- up 1.5%.

The Nasdaq was off 245 points, or 1.88%, at the opening. The tech-heavy index jumped back to finish the day with a 436-point, or 3.34%, gain at 13,473.

Biden vowed Thursday to impose more sanctions on Russia for its military intervention in Ukraine, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin "chose this war."

The US Treasury Department later announced additional sanctions on Russian financial institutions and entities, which operate in agriculture, telecommunications, railroads, maritime and freight shipping, energy, mining, as well as actions targeting Belarus.

The VIX volatility index climbed to 37.79 at one point, its highest since November 2020, but the fear index pulled back to 30.20 for a 2.6% daily loss.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes was down 0.34% to 1.970%. The dollar index, on the other hand, was up 0.9% to 97.04.

Despite earlier gains as safe-haven assets, precious metals surrendered their gains to dive into negative territory.

Gold was down 0.5% to $1,899 per ounce after climbing to $1,974.47 earlier, its highest level since Sept. 1, 2020.

Silver lost 1.6% to $24.17 after hitting $25.62, the highest since Aug. 2, 2021.

Oil prices, on the other hand, managed to stay in positive territory. Brent crude was trading at $95.52 per barrel with a 1.6% gain and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate at $93.02 -- a 1% increase.

Despite sharp declines earlier, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies regained some of their losses.

The price of Bitcoin recovered to $38,500 at 4.25 p.m. EDT after sliding to $34,350, its lowest since Jan. 24.

Ethereum, the world's biggest altcoin by market value, dove below $2,303 but managed to climb to $2,640.

The cryptocurrency market's total value plummeted to $1.55 trillion around 0550 GMT Thursday but rebounded to $1.72 trillion at 2125 GMT.