Stocks ended broadly higher on Wall Street Tuesday as investors welcomed signs that tensions might ease in Ukraine. Moscow said some troops near Ukraine’s borders would begin returning to their bases, however President Biden said that claim remains unverified. Bond yields rose after another indicator on inflation came in higher than expected. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.05% after the Labor Department reported that inflation at the wholesale level surged 9.7% from a year earlier in January. The S&P 500 rose 69.40 points, or 1.6%, to 4,471.07. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 422.67 points, or 1.2%, to 34,988.84. The Nasdaq rose 348.84 points, or 2.5%, to 14,139.76.
Technology stocks and companies that rely on consumer spending led the gains. Apple rose 2.3%, Ralph Lauren rose 5.2%, and Nike rose 2.8%. Smaller company stocks outpaced the broader market. The Russell 2000 was up 2.7%. The concerns on Wall Street over the potential conflict were piled on to a long list of threats for the broader financial markets and global economy that include persistently rising inflation's impact on businesses and consumers, the AP reports. "Today is clearly a rally on less geopolitical tensions and really ignoring the inflation picture," says John Lynch, chief investment officer for Comerica Wealth Management.
US benchmark crude oil prices slumped 3.5%. Oil prices have been volatile amid tensions over Russia potentially invading Ukraine. European markets, which have been sensitive to tensions between Russia and Ukraine, recovered some of their losses Tuesday after Russia said it was withdrawing some troops, however analysts noted that the rebound belied some skepticism. "While this is an encouraging development, talk tends to be cheap and so far, there has been little evidence of that happening on the ground, which perhaps helps explain why today’s rebound has been cautious, relative to recent losses,’’ said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
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