Earnings on Wall Street, outside the S&P 500 correction area

Key Wall Street indicators closed higher on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 coming out of a correctional zone after almost a month amid optimism about the possibility of reaching a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine in the coming weeks.

The S&P 500 with a rise of 1.2% climbed above the level of 4,587.77 points needed to get out of the correction area which is defined as a fall of at least 10% from the last high.

Investors’ optimism was fueled by Moscow’s announcement today that it was “drastically” curtailing its military activity in the Kiev and Chernihiv regions of northern Ukraine, following “substantial” Ukrainian-Russian talks in Istanbul.

Kyiv and Moscow concluded a first round of talks in Istanbul today, with the Russian news agency Interfax quoting the head of the Russian delegation as saying that negotiations were progressing. The talks lasted about four hours with some breaks, while according to an announcement by the Turkish Foreign Minister, the talks will not continue on Wednesday.

White House spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield, however, warned that Russia was redeploying troops to Ukraine and would not withdraw them. movement “from Moscow.

Indicators – Statistics

On the board, the Dow Jones added 338.30 points or 0.97% and climbed to 35,294.19 points, while the broader S&P 500 strengthened by 56.08 points or 1.23% to 4,631.60 points. The technology Nasdaq gained 264.73 points or 1.84% and closed at 14,619.64 points.

Of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones industrial average, 25 closed with a positive sign and only five with a negative. The biggest gainers were Visa with gains of $ 7.35 or 3.33% at $ 228.12, followed by Nike with $ 139.14 with gains of 3.21% and Boeing with gains of 3% at 193, $ 80

On the other hand, the three stocks with the biggest losses were Travelers (-1.58%), Chevron (-1.22%) and UnitedHealth Group (-0.48%).

At the macro level, consumer confidence in the United States strengthened in March, in the first increase of 2022, with the relevant index climbing to 107.2 points, although Americans remained worried about high inflation and the economic impact of the war in Ukraine.

Analysts’ average estimates in a WSJ poll put the index at 107.5 points in March.

The February measurement was revised downwards to 105.7 points from the initial measurement of 110.5 points, as announced by the Conference Board.

At the same time, job vacancies remained close to their all-time highs in February, while resignations rose slightly. In particular, the number of available jobs reached 11.3 million according to a survey conducted by the US Department of Labor. Analysts’ average estimates in a Bloomberg poll put the figure at 11 million.

In the housing market, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index for prices in 20 US metropolitan areas jumped 19.1% year-on-year in January, after rising 18.6% last month. On a monthly basis, the index increased by 1.8%.

Nationwide, the Case-Shiller price index rose 19.2% in January compared to a year earlier.

A different indicator from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) showed a slightly lower rate of price increase. In particular, the FHFA index showed that house prices rose by 18.2% year-on-year in January.