U.S. stocks were taking another leg lower on Tuesday as investors piled in to safe-haven assets amid rising geopolitical tensions between Ukraine and Russia.
The combination of Russia ratcheting up its war rhetoric and uncertainty about how the incoming U.S. presidential administration will respond, is a recipe for stock-market volatility, Gaurav Mallik, chief investment officer at Pallas Capital Advisors, said in emailed commentary on Tuesday.
Mallik said the market may stay at its current levels or decline into year-end with “little room for upside surprise.” He also noted the next lift for stocks is likely to be in January after the fourth-quarter earnings season and confirmations of the Trump cabinet.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Tuesday was off its session low of 42,938 but was falling 0.5%, to around 43,180 as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, while the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite was edging up 0.2%, according to FactSet data.