Soaring energy prices and uncertainty over the impact of economic sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued to set the tone in financial markets on Wednesday, though major stock benchmarks on Wall Street rose in early trading, rebounding from back-to-back losses.
The S&P 500 was about half a percent higher in early trading after falling 1.8 percent to start the week.
Oil and European natural gas prices continued their rapid advance. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 6 percent at about $111 a barrel. In early December, it was trading for about $65 a barrel.
West Texas Intermediate, the gauge followed widely in the United States, rose more than 5 percent to about $109 a barrel.
On Wednesday, OPEC and other oil producers, including Russia, declined to raise output above what it had agreed to in July, rubber-stamping a 400,000-barrel-a-day increase for April. This increase was not considered sufficient to cool down prices, and comes after a release of emergency reserves on Tuesday by countries belonging to the International Energy Agency, including the United States, also failed to make a mark on prices.
European natural gas futures spiked nearly 60 percent at one point before easing to under 170 euros a megawatt-hour, a rise of almost 40 percent. The European natural gas market is especially volatile because Russia is a major supplier, providing more than one-third of the European Union’s gas.
The sharp jump in energy prices did not appear to be tied to crimped supplies from Russia — data from Ukraine’s national gas transmission operator showed normal operations, for example — but concerns among market participants that contracts with Russian suppliers of gas and oil could prompt penalties under Western sanctions, despite efforts shield energy business from the penalties.
Stocks in Asia were broadly lower, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropping 1.8 percent. Sentiment was more mixed in Europe. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose about 0.4 percent.
The Russian stock market was closed on Wednesday, for the third consecutive day. And Sberbank Europe, the European unit of Russia’s largest retail bank, was ordered shut by the European Central Bank, which had warned two days ago that the company was facing collapse.
A parade of Western countries announced they were pulling out of Russia or shutting down services or plants there, including Airbus and Ford Motor. Other manufacturers, like Volkswagen and BMW, have been unable to get needed parts from Ukraine, forcing the temporary shutdown of European plants.
Separately, investors are also weighing remarks from the Federal Reserve chair Jerome H. Powell suggesting that the central bank would raise interest rates at their meeting later this month despite the uncertainty over the effects of the conflict in Ukraine.
Mr. Powell said in the testimony, prepared for delivery to the House Committee on Financial Services on Wednesday that the Fed will have to be “nimble” in making appropriate monetary policy as the implications for the U.S. economy of the war in Ukraine remain unclear.
The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes, a benchmark for borrowing costs across the economy, rose six basis points, or 0.06 percentage points, to 1.79 percent.