Wall Street today: US stocks slip as investors rush to safe-haven assets on escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions

US stock indices slipped on Tuesday, as investors rush to safe-haven assets on escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

As of 10:10 am Eastern time, the S&P 500 was 0.4 per cent lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.8 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.2 per cent lower.

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 146.3 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 43,243.27. The S&P 500 fell 23.6 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 5,870.05, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 92.1 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 18,699.705.

In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.37 per cent from 4.41 per cent late on Monday.

Among the megacap stocks, Amazon.com fell 0.4 per cent and Tesla lost 0.8 per cent.

Nvidia, which will report third quarter results on Wednesday, gained 2 per cent.

Biggest US etailer Walmart jumped 3.4 per cent after the company topped forecasts for both quarterly profit and revenue.

Lowe’s stock slipped 3.5 per cent despite delivering bigger profit and revenue for the third quarter.

Super Micro Computer stock soared 22 per cent after it said it filed a plan with Nasdaq to keep its stock listed on the bourses.

Bullion

Gold prices climbed for a second straight session on Tuesday as the US dollar pulled back from recent highs.

Spot gold rose 1 per cent to $2,637.10 per ounce by 1308 GMT. US gold futures added 1 per cent to $2,641.10.

Spot silver added 0.7 per cent to $31.38 per ounce.

Crypto market

Bitcoin on Tuesday jumped to a high of $92,555, supported by several developments in the crypto market.

The developments include, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. is in talks to buy digital-asset marketplace Bakkt Holdings Inc.

Nasdaq Inc. plans to list options on the $43 billion iShares Bitcoin Trust as early as Tuesday and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is pushing to spin out its digital-asset platform.

Crude oil

Oil prices slipped on Tuesday pressured by the restart of production at Norway's Johan Sverdrup oilfield.

Equinor has resumed partial production from the oilfield, Western Europe's largest, following a power outage.

Brent crude futures were down 29 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $73.01 a barrel by 1240 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped by 34 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $68.82.