US: Stocks fall sharply on worsening toll of Ukraine attack

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks tumbled on Tuesday on worries about the worsening human and economic toll of the Russian attack on Ukraine while oil prices soared.

Russian forces launched a massive strike on local government headquarters in the center of Ukraine's second city Kharkiv, while the UN's refugee agency said nearly 680,000 people have fled Ukraine since it was invaded.

Meanwhile, Germany's finance minister Christian Lindner said Western sanctions were having a "massive impact" on Russia's economy and warned of additional measures ahead.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 1.8 per cent at 33,294.95.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.6 per cent to 4,306.26, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.6 per cent to 13,532.46.

The session was the worst since the Russian invasion after major US indices rose both Thursday and Friday and suffered only modest declines on Monday.

Art Hogan, chief strategist at National Securities, said investors see less of a chance Russian President Vladimir Putin could deescalate the conflict.

"Russia is doubling down and we're going to have to strap in and see how this plays out," said Hogan, who also warned of a rising economic toll from sanctions.

Oil prices rocketed higher above US$100 a barrel even as the International Energy Agency announced plans to release 60 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves.

The surge in oil prices points to worries that Russian crude supplies could be sanctioned or made inaccessible as the conflict drags out.

Among the 11 industrial sectors, energy was the lone one to rise, with Chevron surging 4.0 per cent after it increased its plan for annual share buybacks to US$5 billion to US$10 billion per year, essentially double its earlier range.

Target surged nearly 10 per cent as it reported higher earnings on a 9.4 per cent jump in quarterly sales to US$31 billion. AFP