By Sam Boughedda
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks hit session lows on Thursday after President Joe Biden said the potential for a Russian invasion of Ukraine is "very high" and the U.S. and other western nations said Russia is trying to run a false flag operation to create a pretext for an attack on the country after shelling.
TheDow Jones Industrial Averagesank 522 points, or 1.6%, while the S&P 500fell 1.8% and the NASDAQ Composite fell 2.4%.
Biden made the comments outside the White House on is way to Ohio to make a speech about the nation's infrastructure. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was scheduled to travel to a European security summit later today, made a stop at the United Nations, where he told the members of the Security Council about information Russia was not removing troops from the border with Ukraine, as it claimed, but adding positions.
Russia accused Biden of stoking tensions and released a strongly worded letter saying Washington was ignoring its security demands and threatening unspecified "military-technical measures," Reuters reported.
The growth-oriented technology and communication services sectors were among the hardest hit, while financials also declined as U.S. Treasury yields moved lower.
--Reuters contributed to this report