Easing Ukraine Worries Contributing To Rebound On Wall Street

After moving sharply lower over the three previous sessions, stocks have shown a strong move back to the upside in morning trading on Tuesday. The major averages have all moved notably higher, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the advance.

Currently, the major averages remain firmly in positive territory. The Dow is up 301.99 points or 0.9 percent at 34,868.16, the Nasdaq is up 248.53 points or 1.8 percent at 14,039.45 and the S&P 500 is up 49.31 points or 1.1 percent at 4,450.98.

The rebound on Wall Street comes amid easing geopolitical tensions following news Russia is pulling back some troops from the Ukrainian border.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said units from Russia’s southern and western military districts, which border Ukraine, have already begun returning to their bases after completing combat training.

The news has helped ease concerns about a Russian invasion of Ukraine, which members of the Biden administration recently warned could be imminent.

Concerns about a destabilizing conflict between Russia and the Ukraine have weighed on stocks over the past few sessions.

While the dispute between Russia and Ukraine has not been resolved, the troop pullback will allow traders to breathe a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, traders have largely shrugged off a report from the Labor Department showing U.S. producer prices jumped by much more than expected in the month of January.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand surged up by 1.0 percent in January after rising by an upwardly revised 0.4 percent in December.

Economists had expected producer prices to increase by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.2 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.

Excluding prices for food, energy and trade services, core producer prices advanced by 0.9 percent in January after climbing by 0.4 percent in December.

At the same time, the Labor Department said the annual rate of producer price growth slowed to 9.7 percent in January from 9.8 percent in December. Economists had expected the yearly growth to slow to 9.1 percent.

The annual rate of growth in core producer prices also decelerated to 6.9 percent in January from 7.0 percent in December.

Airline stocks are soaring in reaction to easing concerns about a Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index skyrocketing by 5.4 percent.

Significant strength is also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.7 percent jump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Shares of Tower Semiconductor (TSEM) have spiked after the Israeli chipmaker agreed to be acquired by Intel (INTC) for approximately $5.4 billion in cash.

Networking stocks are also turning in a strong performance on the day, resulting in a 2.4 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.

Arista Networks (ANET) is leading the sector higher after reporting better than expected fourth quarter results and providing upbeat guidance.

Biotechnology, brokerage and computer hardware stocks are also seeing considerable strength, while gold and oil stocks are moving sharply lower along with the prices of their associated commodities.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index both slid by 0.8 percent, although China’s Shanghai Composite Index bucked the downtrend and rose by 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved back to the upside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index has advanced by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 1.5 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 1.7 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the pullback seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 5.3 basis points at 2.049 percent.

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