Stocks are swinging on Wall Street as market-moving forces collide and keep trading jumbled, from the war in Ukraine to an upcoming Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates.

The S&P 500 was 0.2% lower in afternoon trading after the yield on the 10-year Treasury touched its highest level since the summer of 2019. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 171 points, or 0.5%, at 33,115, as of 12.18 pm Eastern time zone, and the Nasdaq composite fell 1.2%.

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In other parts of the world, markets moved in opposing directions. European markets surged, while stocks fell sharply in Hong Kong after the neighbouring city of Shenzhen was ordered into a shutdown to combat China’s worst COVID-19 outbreak in two years.

Oil prices plummeted to give some relief from the high inflation sweeping the world, with theUS crude dropping toward $100 per barrel after touching $130 last week.

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It appears that the Fed’s move this week will be the first of a long march to increase interest rates and slow the economy enough to end the highest inflation in 40 years.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 2.12% from 2.00% late Friday after earlier touching its highest level since July 2019. The two-year yield, which moves more on expectations for Fed policy changes, rose to 1.82% from 1.75%.

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The Fed faces two problems, if it raises rates too fast or too high, it would lead to a recession. If it’s too slow, high inflation could become more permanent.

The war between Ukraine and Russia makes the task of balancing even more difficult. The increase in prices for everything from nickel to natural gas is pushing inflation higher and it’s threatening to pull down on economic growth. That’s why the S&P 500 is coming off its fourth weekly loss in the last five, while crude oil prices have risen roughly a third in 2022.

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Oil prices gave back a lot of those gains on Monday, as concerns over Coronavirus returned to the fore. US oil plunged 6.9% to $101.81 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 6.7% to $105.13.