Wall Street Opens Mostly Lower as Oil Ban Stops Overnight Bounce; Dow Flat

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com -- U.S. stock markets opened mostly lower on Tuesday as the news of an imminent U.S. ban on Russian energy imports kept the financial cost of the Ukraine war at the front of the market's mind.

President Joe Biden is due to make an announcement at 10:45 AM ET on "Actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine" according to a White House briefing sheet. Various reports indicate that Biden intends an immediate stop to U.S. imports of Russian crude, refined products and coal. 

The news sent crude oil prices back toward the $130 mark, a level that has only been seen once in the past, directly before the Great Financial Crisis in 2008. Soaring prices for other commodities, both industrial and agricultural, are fueling fears of sustained inflation and a global economic slowdown.

By 9:40 AM ET (1440 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average had eked out a gain of 21 points, less than 0.1%, to 32,839 points. That follows a drop of over 2.3% on Monday. The broader-based S&P 500 was down 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.5%.

Precise details of the planned actions weren't immediately available. The measures are unlikely to bring about a total halt to Russian energy exports: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday that his country would continue to buy energy from Russia as there were no short-term alternatives available. The EU is set to outline a wide-ranging plan for a rapid reduction in its reliance on Russian energy later Tuesday, however.

The U.S. imported less than half a million barrels of oil a day on average from Russia in 2021, or less than one-tenth of what it imports from Canada and Mexico. However, Russia was the largest source of gasoline imports into the U.S. last year.  The news comes at a time when gasoline prices across the U.S. are at their highest ever (they averaged $4.17 a gallon on Monday, according to the American Automobile Association).

Among individual movers, Uber (NYSE:UBER) stock stood out with a 6% gain as investors encouraged by Monday's profit outlook upgrade took advantage of the shift in market momentum to buy the dip. The stock had hit a 19-month low during Monday's rout. 

Electric vehicle stocks also remained under pressure after extreme volatility in the nickel market illustrated the risks associated with shutting Russia - one of the the world's biggest producers - out of the market. Nickel is an essential metal for the current generation of batteries, and Monday's 80%+ rise in futures prices would put another couple of thousand dollars on the price of every EV if it were sustained. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock fell 0.3%, while Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) stock fell 1.7%. Lucid (NASDAQ:LCID) stock rose 0.4% but struggled to pull away from the record low it posted at the outbreak of the war.

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