U.S. Stocks Move Higher On Peace Talks Hopes

(RTTNews) - U.S. stocks are up firmly in positive territory Tuesday afternoon as signs of progress in Russia-Ukraine talks help underpin sentiment. Slightly easing concerns about inflation following a drop in crude oil prices contribute as well to the positive undertone.

The major averages all are up in positive zone, with the tech-laden Nasdaq turning in a fine performance once again.

The Dow, which climbed to 35,372.26 soon after commencement of trade this morning, is up 240.61 points or 0.69 percent at 35,196.50. The S&P 500 is up 46.38 points or 1.01 percent at 4,621.90, while the Nasdaq is advancing 240.65 points or 1.7 percent at 14,595.55.

According to a Reuters report, Russia's deputy defense minister has said that Russia has decided to drastically cut its military activity focused on Kyiv and Chernihiv. Ukrainian negotiators proposed adopting neutral status in exchange for security guarantees.

On the economic front, data from the Labor Department showed the number of job openings in the United States was 11.266 million in February of 2022, little changed from an upwardly revised 11.283 million in January.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index in the US rose 19.1 percent in January of 2022, the most since September, following a revised 18.9 percent growth in the previous month

A report released by the Conference Board showed an unexpected improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of March.

The report showed the Conference Board's consumer confidence index rose to 107.2 in March from a revised 105.7 in February. Economists had expected the index to dip to 107.0 in March from the 110.5 originally reported for the previous month.

The unexpected uptick by the headline index came as the present situation index jumped to 153.0 in March from 143.0 in February.

Among the prominent gainers in the market, Visa, Nike, Boeing, Walt Disney, Salesforce.com and McDonalds are gaining 2 to 3.5 percent.

Apple Inc., Microsoft, Goldman Sachs and 3M are up 1 to 1.5 percent.

Chevron, Caterpillar, Travelers Companies, Amgen, Johnson & Johnson and IBM are trading weak.

In overseas trading, Asian stocks ended higher on Tuesday amid hopes about peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the latest round of peace talks with a speech.

European stocks closed sharply higher today, buoyed by reports that the face-to-face peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, currently going on in Istanbul, have yielded the most significant progress to date.