[New York Stock Market] Investor Sentiment Revives on Russia-Ukraine 'Negotiation' Hopes... Dow Up 2.51%

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[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] Major indices on the U.S. New York stock market closed higher on the 25th (local time) as Russia announced its readiness to engage in talks with Ukraine. The war fears that had frozen the market somewhat eased. Market experts have previously assessed that the impact of geopolitical risks on the market was short-term.

On this day at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 34,058.75, up 834.92 points (2.51%) from the previous session. The S&P 500, focused on large-cap stocks, rose 95.95 points (2.24%) to 4,384.65, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq index gained 221.04 points (1.64%) to 13,694.62. The small-cap Russell 2000 index also closed higher at 2,040.93, up 44.92 points (2.25%).

By individual stocks, Johnson & Johnson and 3M led the Dow Jones with gains of over 4% each compared to the previous session. Etsy surged 16.21% after releasing better-than-expected earnings. Conversely, Beyond Meat slid 9.20% due to disappointing results. Foot Locker’s stock plunged nearly 30% following forecasts anticipating weak Nike product sales.

Leading tech stocks all showed gains. Tesla closed up 1.14% from the previous session. Apple (1.30%), Nvidia (1.72%), Microsoft (0.92%), Meta Platforms (1.39%), and Amazon.com (1.61%) all rose around 1%. AMD climbed nearly 4%.

Investors continued to focus on Russia’s actions after its invasion of Ukraine. Reports emerged of clashes between Russian forces and Ukrainian troops in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and rocket attacks on Kyiv. However, market sentiment brightened after news that Russian President Vladimir Putin might send a delegation to Belarus for negotiations with Ukraine. War fears also eased further.

Ryan Detrick, strategist at LPL Financial, told CNBC that investors are experiencing another tense year of selling first and asking questions later due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Jeff Kleintop, Chief Global Investment Strategist at Charles Schwab, said, "There is confusion on the ground," but added, "The clarity of sanctions seems to provide some comfort to the market."

Meanwhile, investors are closely watching inflation indicators to gauge the U.S. Federal Reserve’s (Fed) moves. The economic data released on this day reinforced the need for Fed tightening.

The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, showed the highest level in about 40 years. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the core PCE in January rose 5.2% year-over-year, the largest increase since April 1983. This also exceeded the market expectation of 5.1%.

The January PCE including volatile food and energy prices rose 6.1% year-over-year, marking the highest increase since February 1982. On the same day, U.S. durable goods orders for January increased 1.6% month-over-month to $277.5 billion, surpassing market expectations of 0.8%.

However, given the uncertainty over the economic impact of geopolitical risks surrounding Ukraine, market expectations for a big 0.5 percentage point rate hike by the Fed have somewhat diminished.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated in the afternoon that "the likelihood of Kyiv falling is very high," and announced that additional sanctions against President Putin would be imposed within the day.

After surging, international oil prices stabilized somewhat on this day. At the New York Mercantile Exchange, April West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil closed at $91.59 per barrel, down $1.22 (1.3%) from the previous session. WTI prices had briefly surpassed $100 per barrel the day before following news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.