By Susan Mathew and Devik Jain
(Reuters) -U.S. stocks slumped more than 1% on Thursday, with investors scurrying to the safety of bonds and gold as tensions between Washington and Moscow heated up and a Russian invasion of Ukraine was seen imminent by U.S. President Joe Biden.
Financial and technology stocks led declines, down 1.4% and 1.7%, respectively.
The S&P 500 consumer staples sector outperformed, helped by a 2.2% jump in Walmart (NYSE:WMT) after it posted record holiday sales.
Russia expelled deputy U.S. ambassador Bartle Gorman and released a strongly worded letter accusing Washington of ignoring its security demands and threatened unspecified "military-technical measures".
Biden said there was now every indication Russia was planning to invade Ukraine after Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces earlier exchanged fire, in what Western officials described as a possible pretext created by Moscow to invade.
"The wall of worry is under full construction," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.
"You've got inflation that seems to be widespread, a Federal Reserve policy change looms on the horizon, and then there are ongoing tensions with Russia and Ukraine."
At 12:06 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 356.98 points, or 1.02%, at 34,577.29, the S&P 500 was down 49.54 points, or 1.11%, at 4,425.47, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 219.79 points, or 1.56%, at 13,904.30.
Chipmaker Nvidia slid 6.4% as flat gross margins and concern about its exposure to the crypto market overshadowed upbeat current-quarter revenue forecast.
TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) slipped 2.6% after the hotel search website operator posted a surprise fourth-quarter loss, while Albemarle Corp tumbled 17.5% as the lithium producer forecast downbeat annual earnings.
Big banks including JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) slid between 1.3% and 3.2%. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) fell despite positive news from the lenders.
Markets have gyrated this week as geopolitical tensions added to worries about the Federal Reserve's tightening plans this year. Losses so far on Thursday put the Dow on track to end the week in negative territory.
Gold jumped to an eight-month high on Thursday and was within striking distance of the key $1,900 an ounce, while the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields fell 5 basis points to 1.996%. [US/] [GOL/]
Among other big movers, DoorDash Inc surged 6.8% after it reported upbeat quarterly revenue as food delivery demand showed no sign of slowing, indicating ordering habits have changed permanently.
Hasbro Inc (NASDAQ:HAS) rose 3.8% after activist investor Alta Fox Capital Management nominated five directors to the toymaker's board and urged changes including a spinoff of its unit housing games such as "Dungeons & Dragons".
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.04-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 2.97-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded six new 52-week highs and 10 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 22 new highs and 141 new lows.