Stocks finished sharply higher Wednesday, while crude prices plunged and Treasury bond yields crept north, as investors looked to add beaten-down stocks following last night's close in correction territory for major American indices.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 653 points, or 2%, to 33,285, while the S&P 500, which is down 10% for the year, surged by 2.57%.
The Nasdaq gained 3.59%, while the 10-year Treasury note yields hovered just over 1.94%.
Oil prices lead the drop as they fell amid reports that the Ukraine government is prepared to offer concessions to Russia amid the latter's early February invasion.
Energy officials from the UAE, as well, have reportedly urged OPEC members to increase production in order to meet market shortfalls.
WTI futures for April delivery were marked $13.90 lower at $109.80 per barrel while Brent contracts for May fell $15.23 to $112.80 per barrel during New York trading.
Headline risk from the war in Ukraine, where Russian forces continue their march towards the capital Kyiv as fighting enters its 13th day, remains elevated, however, as does the ongoing financial impact linked to scores of corporate boycotts, a U.S. ban on Russian energy exports and a warning from Fitch Ratings that the Russian government could be close to an 'imminent' default of some of its debt as a result of sanctions placed on its central bank's access to U.S. dollar reserves.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on the international community to enforce a 'no-fly' zone in order to prevent what he called a "humanitarian catastrophe" in the region, while reports suggest the country's state-backed power grid has been disconnected from the nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia as a result of Russian attacks.
A pullback in global oil prices, following yesterday's comprehensive ban on Russian energy imports from President Joe Biden, looks to have helped bullish sentiment Wednesday, as investors eye a plethora of U.S. stocks trading in correction territory -- a figure that represents a 10% fall from a recent peak -- and an easing in the CBOE Group's benchmark VIX volatility gauge.
Investors will be closely tracking data from the Energy Department, published at 10:30 am Eastern time that showed inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at the lowest levels since 2002, with overall stockpiles falling by 1.9 million barrels and holding at the levels last seen in 2014.
In the meantime, U.S. gas prices are stuck at record highs, with Gasbuddy.com, a consumer-focused website, reporting a national average of $4.26 per gallon.
In terms of individual stocks, shares in the online match-making app Bumble (BMBL) surged 42% after it posted stronger-than-expected fourth quarter earnings while announcing it will cease offerings services in Russia and Belarus.
Stitch Fix (SFIX) shares, however, fell 6.1% after the online fashion retailer posted a wider-than-expected second quarter loss and cautioned that sales would likely decline from last year as shopping habits continue to evolve following the lifting of pandemic era restrictions.
Activision (ATVI) ended down slightly, while Microsoft (MSFT) rose 4.6%, after the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission, is investigating three entertainment industry executives over potential insider trading violations linked to the tech giant's $68 billion takeover of the Call of Duty videogame maker.
In overseas markets, Europe's Stoxx 600 had its strongest single-day gain in nearly two years with a 4.68% advance in Frankfurt, while the region-wide MSCI ex-Japan index in Asia closed out the session with a 0.6% gain.
