Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com — U.S. Stock Markets opened lower Wednesday. This was due to profit-taking following the recent strong gains. The prospects for long and deep disruption to the global economy as a result Russia’s invasion Ukraine looked more likely. 

Russia unilaterally tightened world oil markets overnight by declaring that the export terminal connecting Kazakh oil with world markets via Black Sea needed to close for two months in order to repair storm damage. According to Argus media, in April the Caspian Pipeline Consortium link would be shipping 1.5 million barrels of crude per day. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also warned Russia about the possibility of using nuclear weapons. This was mentioned by various Russian officials and other non-governmental figures as an option. Stoltenberg stated that Russia should understand the impossibility of winning a nuclear conflict and called for China to end spreading “lies and disinformation about Russia’s actions in Ukraine.”

At 34,519 point, the index was at a loss of 288 points or 0.8% by 9:45 ET (1340 GMT). It was also lower by 0.8$%, and was 1.1% down. This wiped out more than half its gains on Tuesday.