Wall Street continued its rebound for a second day after a sharp sell-off from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The three main indexes of the United States stock exchanges also closed higher with the Dow Jones recording its biggest daily percentage gain since November 2020.
Friday (25/2), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 2.51% to 34,058.75, the S&P 500 index rose 2.24% to 4,384.65 and the Nasdaq Composite index rose 1.64% to 13,694.62.
However, for this week, the Dow Jones still looks down 0.1%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index rose 0.8% and the Nasdaq rose 1.1%.
The rise of the stock market is considered by some strategists to occur because of excessive selling in the middle of this week. At the beginning of the week. The S&P 500 index has confirmed it has lost more than 10% from its record closing high on January 3rd.
"It really feels more like we're really running out of sentiment in this correction," said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at The Leuthold Group in Minneapolis.
He emphasized that apart from the Russian invasion, the economic fundamentals of the United States (US) and the health of companies in Uncle Sam's country actually remained profitable.
In trading this weekend, oil prices corrected and returned to below $100 per barrel, easing some concerns about higher energy costs.
In addition, all 11 of the major sectors on the S&P 500 ended higher in the session. With the healthcare sector giving the S&P 500 its biggest boost.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is still ongoing. With Russian missiles hitting Kyiv and leaving families seeking shelter on Friday, a day after Russia launched a three-pronged invasion of Ukraine in the biggest attack on a European country since World War Two.
Investors also assessed news that Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in a phone call that Russia was willing to hold high-level talks with Ukraine, according to China's foreign ministry.
Meanwhile, the West on Thursday launched new sanctions against Russia. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was deploying part of a combat-ready response force and would continue to send weapons to Ukraine.
"In general, sanctions are going to be bad," but investors seemed relieved that Washington was rejecting the idea of going to war with Russia, said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco.
He added that volatility in the stock market will remain high in the coming days as events in Ukraine dictate market moves, but that focus will eventually return to Federal Reserve sentiment and the outlook for interest rates.
Some strategists noted that the sanctions announced Thursday targeted Russian banks but that the energy sector was largely untouched.
In this trade, Johnson & Johnson shares rose 5% after a US judge ruled that the drugmaker's subsidiary could remain bankrupt. This prevents plaintiffs from pursuing 38,000 lawsuits against the company alleging baby powder and other talc products cause cancer.
