Stocks fell lower on Monday as investors weighed escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine alongside ongoing concerns over inflation and the Federal Reserve's next moves. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 slipped about 0.5% and 0.4% lower, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite closed at a negative flatline.
Here's how the market settled to start the week:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
U.S. closes its embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine as Russian tensions build:
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday ordered the U.S. embassy in Kyiv closed and directed embassy staff to relocate to Lviv, a city in western Ukraine.
"We are in the process of temporarily relocating our Embassy operations in Ukraine from our Embassy in Kyiv to Lviv due to the dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces," Blinken said in a statement.
"O have ordered these measures for one reason--the safety of our staff--and we strongly urge any remaining U.s. citizens in Ukraine to leave thee country immediately," Blinken added.
Earlier, multiple news outlets reported Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov urging President Vladimir Putin to continue diplomatic talks with the West. U.S. official warn a Russian attack could happen any day now.
Texas AG sues Facebook for allegedly collecting facial-recognition data without user consent:
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Facebook-parent Meta Platforms
The state claims Facebook violated state law by failing to gain users' informed consent to collect their biometric data, and failed to destroy that data in a reasonable period of time. Texas also claims Facebook violated the rights of Texans who did not use the social media platform by allegedly collecting facial identifiers on photos uploaded to the site, whether those pictured in the photos were Facebook users or not.
In the suit, Texas alleges Facebook violated the state's Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act and its Deceptive Trade Practices Act by capturing facial-recognition data without consent billions of times.
Paxton said at a press conference Monday that the total penalties could total in the billions of dollars.
Fed President Bullard says central bank needs to rise interest rates quickly:
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday that the Fed needs to react quickly to rising inflation with moving interest rates much higher.
"I do think we need to front-load more of our planned removal of accommodation than we would have previously. We've been surprised to the upside on inflation. This is a long of inflation," Bullard said host Steve Liesman.
"Our credibility is on the line here and we do have to react to the data," he added. "However, I do think we can do it in a way that's organized and not disruptive to markets."
Bullard recently said he thinks the central bank should raise its benchmark rate a full percentage point by July.
Here's how market benchmarks started trading soon after open:
S&P 500 Index: -0.09% or -3.76 points to 4,414.88
Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.06% or -22.10 points to 34,715.96
Nasdaq Composite Index: -0.24% or -22.54 points to 13,758.22
