Dow Ends -2.4%, Nasdaq -3.6% On Rising Economic Woes

Wall Street stocks plunged on Monday in the latest rout following Russia's attack on Ukraine as worries mount that spiking commodity prices will slow the economy.

The Dow Jones dove 2.4 percent, a loss of nearly 800 points, to finish at 32,817, continuing last week's retreat.

The S&P 500 sank 3.0 percent to end at 4,201, while the Nasdaq tumbled 3.6 percent to 12,830.

The sell-off came after Brent crude futures spiked to nearly US$140 a barrel before pulling back somewhat. Wheat struck record highs, along with several industrial metals.

"It seems the fundamental shift due to Russia's attack on Ukraine is that inflationary pressures will remain elevated much longer than expected and that ultimately the economy will fall into a recession at some point over the next 24 months," Oanda's Edward Moya said in a note.

A "base case" is that this war "won't end in a month as talks have not provided any meaningful signs of a truce and since Ukrainians have surprised Russia and not given the Kremlin an easy victory," he added.

All but a handful of equities in the Dow retreated, with the biggest losers including American Express, down 8.0 percent, Boeing, down 6.5 percent and Disney, which fell 5.1 percent.

Large tech shares were hammered with Amazon, Facebook parent Meta and Google parent Alphabet all dropping more than four percent.

Petroleum-linked companies proved an exception to the trend. Chevron won 2.1 percent, while oil services giant Halliburton added 6.2 percent. (AFP)