SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Loser: Dow falls 250 points as Russia Invades Ukraine

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped as traders continue to monitor brewing tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Oil prices jumped 4.5% to $95.19 per barrel.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has put pressure on market sentiment recently, with the major averages posting back-to-back weekly losses.

Meanwhile, Macy’s popped more than 5% after beating on the top and bottom lines of its quarterly results. Macy’s also authorized a new $2 billion share buyback program and announced a 5% dividend increase.

Home Depot said sales grew 11% in the fiscal fourth quarter, as the retailer topped Wall Street’s expectations and said it sees sales growth ahead for 2022.

U.S. airports were the busiest since Thanksgiving over the President’s Day weekend, a sign that leisure travel continues to recover as COVID-19 cases fall further.

Loser: Home prices grew 18.8% in  2021

Home price growth didn’t go up but sideways in the final month of 2021, but the full year logged in record gains.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home price index posted an 18.8% annual gain in December.

For the year, a gain of 18.8% is the highest calendar year increase in 34 years of data, and substantially ahead of 2020’s 10.4% gain.

Once again, Phoenix led the 20-City Composite by posting a 32.5% annual gain. The city has led that index for 31 straight months.

Two cities in Florida, Tampa and Miami, followed by recording a 29.4% and 27.3% gain, respectively.

Sam Francoscp was up 18.8% for the year right in line.

Prices are propelled by record-low inventory, which shows no sign of rising.

Total housing inventory is down 16.5% year over year — a record low since the NAR started tracking the data in 1999 for all types of homes.

A marked change may be ahead for [home price] growth as rising mortgage rates eat into homebuyer purchasing power.

Winner: Sony unveils new virtual reality headset for PlayStation

Sony unveiled its new virtual reality headset, called the PlayStation VR2. 

It comes as companies increasingly bet on a digital feature, heating up competition in the growing space.

But legacy gaming companies are continuing to work to hold their dominance in the space

Facebook-parent Meta has devoted $10 billion over the next year to shift its focus to the metaverse, a digital world where it hopes people will work and play using its $299 Meta Quest 2 headset that can work with a home computer.

Sony is trying to attract people who want a headset that seamlessly connects and plays the games they already have on their PlayStation consoles.

Sony’s VR headset requires a PlayStation.

Sony hasn’t announced pricing for the headset yet, but it looks similar to the Meta Quest 2 and, like Facebook’s headset, comes with two controllers that you use to navigate in VR.

When PS VR2 launches, it’ll take a giant leap forward in the way we play games in virtual reality as  the new headset will support sharp 4K graphics, head-tracking and more.

Apple is also expected to launch a virtual reality headset in the coming year.