Wall Street suffered sharp losses in premarket trade on Monday as Ukraine and Russia convened to negotiate a stop to hostilities in eastern Europe. After the West imposed a stronger set of sanctions against Moscow, China voiced its opposition to the move. Earlier in the day, Russia's central bank reacted to the punitive measures by doubling the key interest rate.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 483 points or 1.43%, the Nasdaq 100 was 1.67% down and the S&P 500 decreased by 1.87% at 4:00 am ET.
The euro was 0.79% lower compared to the dollar, changing hands for 1.11768 at 3:59 am ET.
