U.S. stock futures plunge as investors weigh impact of latest Russia sanctions

Chaos is expected in Russian markets RU:MOEX when they open Monday, after the U.S. and its allies on Saturday vowed to remove major Russian banks from the SWIFT interbank messaging network, effectively cutting them off from the global financial network. Some experts speculated about runs on Russian banks as the value of the ruble sinks against the U.S. dollar USDRUB, 22.87%.

Tensions between Russia and the West ratcheted even higher Sunday after Putin put Russia’s nuclear forces on red alert in response to what he called “aggressive statements” by NATO. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces continued to put up stuff resistance to Russian invaders, and Ukraine agreed to meet with Russia in Belarus for talks, though hopes for a quick resolution to the conflict appear slim.

Wall Street ended sharply higher Friday, on hopes of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine — though such hopes appear dimmer after the weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +2.51%  surged 834.92 points, or 2.5%, to close at 34,058.75, with the blue-chip gauge notching its best daily gain since early November 2020. The S&P 500  SPX, +2.24%  rose 95.95 points, or 2.2%, to end at 4,384.65. The Nasdaq Composite Index  COMP, +1.64%  added 221.04 points, or 1.6%, to finish at 13,694.62.

For the week, the Dow dipped by less than 0.1% while the S&P 500 rose 0.8% and Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.1%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq benchmarks wiped out losses from earlier in the week.

Oil prices continued to rise Sunday, with West Texas Intermediate crude CLJ22, 4.72% and Brent crude BRNJ22, +4.41%, the global benchmark, again edging toward $100 a barrel.