NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The US stock markets, which have recently been under strong pressure, made up ground on Wednesday. However, the situation on the markets is still characterized by the uncertainty surrounding the war in Ukraine. The news that Russia and Ukraine had signaled their willingness to continue negotiations on Thursday provided a positive impetus. The focus was also on statements by US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who had signaled a rate hike for March.
The Dow Jones Industrial closed up 1.79 percent at 33,891.35 points. The market-wide S&P 500 gained 1.86 percent to 4386.54 points. The technology-heavy selection index Nasdaq 100 increased by 1.70 percent to 14243.69 points.
Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine want to meet for talks on a ceasefire for the second time since the war began. However, Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities continued on the seventh day of the war. The European Union and the US tightened sanctions against Russia and also imposed restrictions on Russian ally Belarus.
US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell described the effects of the Ukraine war on the economy as very uncertain at a hearing before a US Parliament committee. However, he still considered a rate hike at the forthcoming Fed interest rate meeting to be appropriate.
Better-than-expected data from the US labor market also attracted attention. In February, the private sector in the USA created significantly more jobs than expected. Compared to the previous month, 475,000 jobs have been added. Analysts had only expected an increase in employment of around 375,000 on average. In addition, January data has been revised sharply upwards.
At the software manufacturer Salesforce, a disappointing earnings outlook for the current quarter outweighed a surprisingly positive sales outlook. Shares in the SAP rival rose a below-average 0.7 percent, making it one of the Dow’s weakest stocks.
The fact that Ford is turning its back on Russia because of the Ukraine war did not deter investors. The second-largest US automaker also announced that it would operate the business with battery-powered and networked vehicles in an independent division in the future. The Ford papers posted a price increase of 8.4 percent and were thus at the top of the S&P 100 index.
iPhone maker Apple suspended sales of its products in Russia because of the war. Exports to all trade channels in the country were stopped last week, it said. The Apple Pay payment service and other services have also been restricted. Apple titles gained 2.1 percent.
The US aviation group Boeing also stopped doing business with Russian airlines. The measure affects the supply of spare parts as well as maintenance and technical support, the group said. Boeing shares rose 1.5 percent.
The euro recovered from its slide below $1.11 from the European session in US trading and was last traded at $1.1124. The European Central Bank had set the reference rate at 1.1106 (Tuesday: 1.1162) dollars. The dollar had cost 0.9004 (0.8959) euros.
US Treasury bond prices lost significant ground. The futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) was last listed 1.25 percent lower at 127.11 points. The yield on ten-year government bonds rose to 1.90 percent./edh/he
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