Morning Report 14 Feb 22: Stocks slump as investors weigh escalating geo-political tensions

US sharemarkets fell on Friday, posting most of the losses in early afternoon trade on fears of conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Washington warned that Russia had massed enough troops near Ukraine to launch a major invasion, and that an attack could begin any day. Nine of 11 S&P500 sectors fell. Technology fell 3% with Amazon down 3.6%, Microsoft down 2.4% and Apple down 2%. At the close of trade, the Dow Jones index was down by 504 points or 1.4%. The S&P 500 index lost 1.9%. And the Nasdaq index fell by 395 points or 2.8%. Over the week the Dow lost 1%; S&P 500 fell 1.8%; and the Nasdaq lost 2.2%

US treasuries were firmer on Thursday (yields lower) as fears of conflict in Ukraine drove investors to the relative safety of assets like bonds, gold and the Japanese yen. US 10-year yields fell by 11 points to 1.918%. US 2-year yields fell by 7 points to 1.488%. Over the week US 10-year yields rose less than 1 basis point while US 2-year yields rose by 17 points

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