Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com — U.S. stocks opened mixed Monday morning as hope for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Ukraine waned. There are signs that Russia has intensified its pursuit of its goals, and lockdowns in China have rekindled fears about supply chain disruptions around the globe.

The index was at 33,000 points by 9:45 ET (1450 GMT) and had risen 155 points or 0.5% to 33,099 point. While the index closed up 0.3%, the trading was virtually flat since Friday’s close. Index futures traded much weaker in overnight sessions than they did on Friday. The war fears have caused all three indices to drop ground, with the fear that it may cause an economic slowdown as well as sustained higher inflation.

The Federal Reserve policy meeting on Wednesday will conclude this week, so the market should hold off any major moves. This all takes place with inflation at an all-time high. Markets will be driven by the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday about the interplay of growth and inflation in wartime situations.

With little domestic news and the earnings and data calendars still relatively blank, attention was initially focused on Chinese ADRs. These were facing pressure from a variety of angles. To stop the escalating number of Covid-19-related cases, Shenzhen’s manufacturing center and Jilin region in northern China announced a weeklong lockdown. This confirms fears that Omicron could be a new strain of the virus that is resistant to most vaccines currently used in China.  Foxconn (DE:), which makes the iPhone for Apple’s, was one of the first companies to announce the closing of its plants Monday. 

Apple stock (NASDAQ:), fell 1.3%, while Foxconn’s (OTC:), ADRs declined a modest 0.3%. 

Other Chinese names fell more heavily, amid reports that online giant Tencent (OTC:) is facing a record anti-money-laundering fine for allowing its WeChatPay service to be used for illicit purposes, such as gambling. The Tencent ADRs dropped 7.0%, to a low of 2.1% over the past two years.