2014.07.2123:39:36UTC+00Wall Street decline on Ukraine, Gaza situation

US stocks declined on Monday’s trading session with the current geopolitical tension in Ukraine, Russia, and Gaza as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s popularity plummeted in a global poll following the Malaysian Airlines passenger jet crash allegedly shot down in the Ukraine-Russia border.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed  o.3% or 48.45 pips to 17,051.73 with an intraday low that lost the index as much as 125 pip.Infrastructure and financial-services company, General Electric led the losses among the gauge’s 22 out of 30 components following the cuts made by JP Morgan on its estimates on GE. The S&P 500 Index declined by 0.2% or 4.59 pips to 1,973.63. Among its 10 industry groups, consumer discretionary lagged while energy tried to lift the gauge by performing best. The Nasdaq Composite experienced a brief incline  before riding the bandwagon with other major US stocks, decreasing by 0.2% or 7.44 pips to 4,424.70. The trend shows that for every share climbing, less than two dropped. The New York Stock Exchange saw that over 541 million shares exchanged hands while composite volumes was near 2.6 billion.

Herbalife Inc. plummeted by 11% with the announcement of hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman swore to unmask fraud within the company. Yum! Brands Inc. and McDonald’s Corp. shed 4.3% and 1.5% respectively with the food giants deciding it will no longer purchase meat products from an investigated Shanghai supplier. Hasbro Inc. and BB&T Corp. lost 2.7% and 4% respectively after the former reported a lower-than-expected revenue while the latter’s adjusted profit did not make the projection.

Manager of Clover Value Fund in Federated Investor Inc., Matthew Kaufler commented that the geopolitical tension is an “overarching damper” for the market and besides that there is the focus on this week’s earnings report for the second quarter. Kaufler adds that even if the market is currently preoccupied with the earnings season, “we’re still trying to keep a pulse on what’s going on around the world”.

The CBOE Volatility Index or the fear gauge of investors climbed to 13.62, a close call with previous trend where the index added as much as 6.2% to 12.81.