(Wednesday Market Close) The Russian occupation of certain regions of Ukraine, along with warnings from the U.S. State Department that Russia is poised to take over the entire country, pushed stocks lower once again on Wednesday. The S&P 500 (SPX) broke an important support level by trading below 4,300. This level held in January of 2022 and October and July of 2021. Depending on which technical analyst you talk to, the next level of support could be between the 4,050 to 4,000 range.

While oil futures closed relatively flat despite a volatile morning of trading, palladium futures rose 3.70%. Russia is the largest producer of palladium. Russia is also a big player in nickel and those futures rose about 1% on the day. Other Russia-related assets are also struggling. Russian ADR Mobile Telesystems (NYSE:MBT) fell 8.79% on Wednesday. Overnight, the MOEX Russia stock index pared some of its losses from Monday’s 20% sell-off.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJI) also broke support but is trading just below its June 2021 low. However, the average will likely be weighed down by the S&P 500 if it continues to slide on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite ($COMP) is testing its May 2021 low and is moving into an area of congestion between the 13,000 and 12,000 levels. While value stocks fared better than growth stocks, the S&P 500 Pure Value Index still fell more than 1%. The S&P 500 Pure Growth Index dropped 2.56%. The energy sector was the only sector to finish the day in the positive. Consumer discretionary and technology were the worst-performing sectors on the day.

Staying with the travel group, Hertz Global (NASDAQ:HTZ) announced a new record profit. This allowed HTZ to beat on earnings estimates but fell short on revenue. The miss on revenue took the stock down about 4% in after-hours trading. Many investors are concerned about the future of all rental car companies. Because of the shortage of new cars during the pandemic over the last two years, rental car companies haven’t been able to replace their vehicles. This means an enormous amount of spending is in the future for these companies.

Outside of retail, the maker of Dodge and Jeep vehicles, Stellantis N.V. (NYSE:STLA), reported better-than-expected earnings, prompting it to rally 4.13%. This is the first earnings since the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA Group. STLA was able to grow sales 14% for the year despite all the pandemic-related issues. The company expects a 3% increase in sales over the next year.

The positive earnings announcement from Bookings (NASDAQ:BKNG) may help travel and leisure stocks on Thursday, but the group is facing an uphill climb after the Dow Jones U.S. Travel & Leisure Index fell nearly 3% on Wednesday. With that said, the sector has begun to demonstrate relative strength against the S&P 500 and appears to be led by the hotels group.

The Dow Jones U.S. Hotels Index doesn’t appear to have suffered the same problems that the airline group has with COVID-19 and its variants. In fact, Marriott International (NASDAQ:MAR) soundly beat earnings and revenue estimates last week, which helped the stock create a new all-time high. Perhaps these are good signs that the end is near—the end of the pandemic that is.