Wall Street's wild month has officially come to a close, and Tuesday's tumultuous trading ultimately saw the major benchmarks turn in stiff daily losses. The main driver behind today's pessimism was investors' inflation and recession fears, which were stoked even more by the European Union's (EU) Russian oil ban. The Dow, which lost 222 points today, and S&P 500 each finished May marginally higher, while the Nasdaq fell for the second consecutive month.

The Dow Jones Average (DJI - 32,990.12) shed 222.8 points, or 0.7% today, but added 0.04% this month. Of the nine Dow gainers, Nike (NKE) led with a 2.5% pop. Meanwhile, Salesforce.com (CRM) rounded out the laggards after losing 2.9%.

The S&P 500 Index (SPX - 4,123.15) erased 26.1 points, or 0.6% for the day, but gained 0.01% in May. The Nasdaq Composite (IXIC - 12,081.39) lost 49.7 points, or 0.4% for the session, and 2.1% for the month.

Lastly, the Cboe Market Volatility Index (VIX - 26.19) rose 0.5 points, or 1.8% today. For the month, Wall Street's "fear gauge" lost 21.6%.

GOLD LOSES FOR SECOND STRAIGHT MONTH

Oil futures skyrocketed earlier today, following the EU's decision to ban 90% of Russian crude by the end of the year. However, by the session's end, July-dated crude pulled back 40 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $114.67 per barrel, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced its considering suspending Russia from the group's output agreement. For the month, black gold added 9.5%.

Gold prices closed with their second-straight monthly loss, falling 3.1%. This marked bullion's first two-month losing streak since March 2021. Meanwhile, for the session, August-dated gold shed $8.90, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,848.40 an ounce, thanks to a surge in the U.S. dollar.