Wall Street Falls As Russia-Ukraine Tensions Worsen And Nvidia Earnings Slide

Wall Street's main indices declined on Wednesday, weighed down by escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions and a slip in Nvidia's stock ahead of its quarterly earnings, Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal reported for Reuters.

Wall Street's "fear gauge," the VIX, spiked to 18.79 before easing slightly, remaining at its highest level since the November 5 U.S. presidential election. I Photo: Володимир Зеленський Facebook

Stocks fell after reports emerged that Ukraine had fired long-range British Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory. This followed Tuesday's launch of US-made ATACMS missiles by Ukraine and Russia's announcement of a lowered threshold for nuclear action.

Wall Street's "fear gauge," the VIX, spiked to 18.79 before easing slightly, remaining at its highest level since the November 5 U.S. presidential election.

"There's been more missile firing between Ukraine and Russia, and the market doesn't know what to think of that. Tensions are escalating, not de-escalating, and that's why you're seeing the sell-off in the markets," said Dennis Dick, a trader at Triple D Trading.

Meanwhile, Nvidia, a leading name in artificial intelligence, saw its stock drop 0.8%, reversing earlier premarket gains.

The company is set to report its quarterly results after the market closes. As an index heavyweight, Nvidia's performance dragged down the Information Technology sector and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index.

Target shares plummeted 20.7% after the retailer forecast lower-than-expected holiday-quarter comparable sales and profit, following a miss in its third-quarter estimates.

This decline affected other retailers, with Dollar Tree and Dollar General falling 3.4% and 4.9%, respectively. Other growth stocks also suffered losses: Tesla slid 1.8%, and Amazon.com dropped 1.7%.