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As tensions are rising in Ukraine and news of an imminent rate hike by the US Federal Reserve overlap, the New York stock market plunged today (25th) as well. European stocks and Bitcoin prices also fell sharply.



Correspondent Kim Jong-won from New York.



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Immediately after the New York Stock Exchange opened, all three major indices began to decline sharply.



The large-cap S&P 500 index fell more than 11% from its recent 52-week high, and entered the correction zone, and the Dow, a collection of blue-chip stocks, also fell more than 1,000 points at one time.



From the first day of the new year to yesterday, the tech stock Nasdaq, which plummeted by 12% for 14 days, also fell further today, and dinosaurs such as Apple and Google also suffered a decline.



However, as the market close approached, the decline was greatly reduced, and in the end, all three major indices closed with gains of 0.2% to 0.6%.



Although today closed bullish, the New York Stock Exchange has been in a downtrend since the beginning of the year.



Fear of austerity is cited as the number one cause.



With soaring inflation, the US Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates sooner than originally planned for March.



In particular, the downtrend at the beginning of today's market also contributed to the weakening of investor sentiment due to the Ukraine crisis.



[Jeff Thomaslow/CEO of Financial Investment Company: I was honestly a little surprised to see the speed of the share price decline this morning.

Perhaps Ukraine and Russia had a lot of influence.

I think the Ukraine crisis has accelerated the decline in stock prices.]



The stock market in Europe, where tensions are highest in Ukraine, also plunged today, and the price of Bitcoin also fell sharply.