NEW YORK, March 30 ― US stocks rose yesterday, with the Dow and S&P notching their fourth straight session of gains, on optimism some progress was being made toward a deal to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“If you look over the course of the month this war has been going on, the market has priced in much more bad news than good news,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York. After a dismal start to the year for stocks that saw the S&P 500 fall into a correction, commonly referred to as a drop of more than 10 per cent from its most recent high, the benchmark index is now down less than 3 per cent on the year.
After slumping more than 2 per cent on Monday, the S&P energy index was the only declining sector as crude prices fell more than 1 per cent. Real estate, up nearly 3 per cent on the session, was the best performing sector, which indicates some investors may see inflation remaining but no recession on the horizon. It was the biggest one-day percentage gain for the group since January 28.