New York traders ended Monday's session with slight losses as they grappled with fears Russia will soon invade Ukraine and processed aggressive comments from a top Federal Reserve official.
Wall Street has been rattled by ongoing fears of Russian troops crossing the Ukrainian border, which the United States and its allies have vowed would be met with tough sanctions on Moscow that could have ripple effects for global markets.
They've also fretted about the strong possibility the Federal Reserve will in March make its first interest rate increase since Covid-19 broke out to stop runaway inflation in the United States.
Before markets opened, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the central bank should accelerate the pace of interest rate increases, and argued they could do so in a way that doesn't roil financial markets.
The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.5 percent at 34,566.17.
The broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.4 percent to end at 4,401.67, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was flat at 13,790.92.
3M closed down one percent after forecasting it would sell fewer medical masks intended to curb Covid-19 this year, which will weigh on overall sales growth and dampen earnings.
Lockheed Martin finished 2.3 percent lower after it abandoned a bid to take over Aerojet Rocketdyne in the face of a lawsuit from US regulators. Aerojet lost 5.6 percent.
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