By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Stocks sold off on Tuesday as Russia intensified its attacks on major Ukrainian cities, including a push toward the capital of Kyiv as hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fled to neighboring countries to escape the violence.
Oil prices surged more than 10% on the eve of a meeting of the international oil cartel to decide on production levels. Major consuming nations said they reached an agreement to release some of their emergency oil reserves to keep prices from spiking further.
International companies continued to cut ties to Russia and thwart business activity there. U.S. stock markets were still down more than 1% with less than a half hour of trading left in the session.
President Joe Biden is scheduled to give his first State of the Union address Tuesday evening, where he could outline additional sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Ukraine. Biden is also expected to outline progress in his first year in office and his goals for this year.
Inflation is bound to be a topic of the speech. Biden has made several proposals to help keep prices in check, including lowering prescription drug prices and offering free community college and universal early education. The Federal Reserve meets this month to decide how much to raise rates.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow
1. Eyes on oil and oil companies
Global oil markets jumped more than 10% on Tuesday after ceasefire negotiations between Russian and Ukraine forces failed, prompting traders to push crude prices higher on worries that international sanctions against Moscow would severely crimp the country’s energy exports. Analysts are keeping an eye on inventory data due out Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, as well as surging stocks of big energy companies.
2. Earnings reports
Discount store Dollar Tree Inc (NASDAQ:DLTR)’s fourth-quarter profit per share is seen at $1.78 on likely revenue of $7.12 billion, according to analysts tracked by Investing.com. Meanwhile, software maker Splunk Inc (NASDAQ:SPLK)’s fourth-quarter revenue is seen at $774.92 million with loss per share coming in at 21 cents.
3. Private payrolls
ADP will release its month-on-month change in private payrolls for February at 8:15 AM ET. According to estimates, private companies in the U.S. added 350,000 jobs in February, compared to January when private payrolls fell by 301,000, the first time in more than a year.
–Investing.com staff contributed to this report