U.S. stocks fell to session lows on Wednesday after a news conference between Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov indicated a strained relationship between the two countries, which added to the market’s geopolitical uncertainty.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% to 20,587. The S&P 500 lost 0.4% to 2,344. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.5% to 5,837. Tensions have been growing ever since the White House accused Russia of trying to cover up the suspected chemical weapon attack in Syria, though Trump has said the U.S. isn’t headed for a ground war in that country. The day’s losses were broad, with eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors falling on the day. Materials and industrials were the biggest drags, with both down more than 1.2%. Exchange-traded funds tied to the Russian equity market also fell in midday trading. Both the iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF and the VanEck Vectors Russia ETF lost 1.5% on the day. The iShares fund is down 8.2% thus far this year. In currencies, the ruble traded at 56.74 to the dollar, compared with 56.92 late Tuesday, a move of 0.3%.
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