Wall St Drops As Oil Rally, Putin Comments Add To Anxiety

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Wednesday as Moscow planned to switch its natural gas sales to some countries to roubles and oil prices jumped, while shares of Adobe fell following a disappointing outlook.

Responding to Western sanctions that have hit Russia's economy hard, President Vladimir Putin said Moscow will seek payment in roubles for gas sales from "unfriendly" countries, while its forces bombed areas of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv a month into their assault.

Oil prices jumped more than 5%. [O/R] While higher oil prices benefit energy shares, they are a negative for consumers and many businesses. The S&P 500 energy sector was up 2%, the only positive sector of the day along with utilities.

"The resurgence of oil prices is giving people pause," said Stephen Massocca, senior vice president at Wedbush Securities in San Francisco. "There needs to be a resolution with Russia. That's going to hold the market back."

Adobe Inc slid more than 10% after the Photoshop maker forecast downbeat second-quarter revenue and profit and sees an impact on fiscal 2022 revenue due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 367.8 points, or 1.06%, to 34,439.66, the S&P 500 lost 42.53 points, or 0.94%, to 4,469.08 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 138.96 points, or 0.98%, to 13,969.86.

Alphabet-owned Google said it will pause all ads containing content that exploits, dismisses or condones the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Its stock was down 1%.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.65-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.73-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and four new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 37 new highs and 48 new lows.