Stocks Fall, Bonds and Gold Gain as Russia Threats Add to Fed Jitters

Visitors walk past Japan's Nikkei stock prices quotation board inside a conference hall in Tokyo, Japan, on Sept. 14, 2022. Issei Kato/Reuters

LONDON—Stocks fell, while safe havens such as government bonds and the dollar rose, as anxious investors fled risk assets after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered a mobilization over Ukraine and accused the West of “nuclear blackmail.”

European currencies came under fire, with the euro dropping 0.4 percent to $0.9932 and sterling last down 0.3 percent at $1.1346, after having touched a new 37-year low at $1.1304.