S&P 500 drops in rocky session as US bans Russian oil imports

March 8 - The S&P 500 fell in rocky trading on Tuesday, as investors weighed fast-paced developments around the conflict in Ukraine as the United States banned Russian oil and other energy imports.

Tuesday's up-and-down session on Wall Street came a day after steep declines that saw the tech-heavy Nasdaq confirm it was in a bear market.

US President Joe Biden announced the ban on Russian oil and other energy imports, underscoring strong bipartisan support for a move that he acknowledged would drive up US energy prices, while Britain said it would phase out imports of Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022.

"I think it is just investors trying to probe whether it is worth buying the dips and we had a real big one yesterday," Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. "To me, it's a trader's market and people looking for very short-term momentum shifts to trade."

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 29.52 points, or 0.70%, to end at 4,171.57 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 37.78 points, or 0.29%, to 12,793.19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 178.20 points, or 0.54%, to 32,639.18.

Reuters