Stocks closed in the red Friday as investors weighed upbeat remarks from Russian President Vladimir Putin about diplomatic discussions with Ukraine against a weaker-than-expected print on U.S. consumer sentiment. Markets continued to grapple with the economic and corporate earnings implications relating to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. βWe have a ton of uncertainty right now,β said Stephanie Link, chief investment strategist and portfolio manager at Hightower Advisors. βWeβre dealing with a war, weβre dealing with inflation. We donβt know what it means to earnings.β There was another possible development: Reuters also reported that Ukraine said that Belarus could soon join the invasion of Ukraine. However, the AFP, citing a Pentagon official, said the U.S. hasnβt yet seen evidence that Belarusian troops are in Ukraine. This provided opportunity to their linked entities to offload their shares at higher prices and make significant profits at the cost of unsuspecting retail investors. In addition, Telegram's architecture limits the ability to slow the spread of false information: the lack of a central public feed, and the fact that comments are easily disabled in channels, reduce the space for public pushback.
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