“But we do recognize that there are significant opportunities for potential impacts on the energy markets, as we’re moving forward, if things were to deteriorate,” Ms. Bowman added. “Obviously we’ll continue to watch that, and if we believe that might have some influence on the global economy, we’ll take that into account as we’re going into our meetings and discussing the economy more broadly.”
The potential global economic ramifications of the conflict in Ukraine have encouraged traders to seek the safety of Treasurys, which has pulled down yields for the benchmark U.S. bonds. About a week ago, yields of the 10-year Treasury note passed 2 percent, their highest since mid-2019, as traders prepared for the rate increases. On Tuesday, the yield hovered around 1.94 percent. As bonds rise in price, their yield falls.
The potential for rate increases, which could start as soon as March, has made owning risky assets, like technology stocks, unattractive to investors. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite, which fell 1.2 percent on Tuesday, is down nearly 17 percent since its high in November.
Shares of Meta, Facebook’s parent company, have fallen about 40 percent since the start of the year, while Microsoft is down more than 14 percent and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, about 10 percent.
But the damage has not been limited to tech stocks. Other than energy companies, which have followed oil prices higher, and financial firms, which are mostly unchanged, every sector of the S&P 500 has fallen significantly since the start of the year, with many experiencing double-digit drops.
Coral Murphy Marcos, Jeanna Smialek and William P. Davis contributed reporting.