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U.S. stocks on Thursday ended the final trading session of March and the quarter lower, while oil prices fell as the Biden administration said the U.S. will release 1 million barrels daily from reserves.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 550.46 points lower at 34,678.35, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite finished down 1.57% and 1.54%, respectively.
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The plan announced by the White House on Thursday is an effort to relieve some inflation associated with rising gasoline prices and combat other supply shortages that partly stem from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 6.6% to $100.67 a barrel while Brent crude futures fell 5.4% to $107.29 a barrel.
A maze of crude oil pipes and valves is pictured during a tour by the Department of Energy at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. (REUTERS/Richard Carson / Reuters Photos)
Russian forces shelled areas near Kyiv and another city Wednesday after Moscow said it would scale back operations there to promote trust. Negotiators were meeting in Turkey to try to end the five-week-old war.
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On the economic front, the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation – core personal consumption expenditures, which remove volatile food and energy prices – soared by 5.4% in the year through February, according to data released by the Commerce Department.
Including food and energy, the inflation gauge jumped 6.4% in February from the previous year, the strongest gain since February 1982.
Income & spending numbers will be reported Thursday morning. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh / AP Images)
Additionally, the Labor Department reported that 202,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expected 197,000 claims.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin traded around $47,000.
In Asia, The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed 0.7%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong sank 1.1% and China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.4% after an index of Chinese manufacturing activity fell to a five-month low.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 43958.19 | +47.21 | +0.11% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 5985.38 | +1.39 | +0.02% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 19230.725379 | -50.68 | -0.26% |
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Markets have mostly gained ground this week as talks between Russia and Ukraine seemed to show progress.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.