US close: Stocks higher on signs of progress in Russia-Ukraine talks

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Tuesday following the release of some key economic data and word of some potential progress in talks between Russia and Ukraine.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.97% at 35,924.19, while the S&P 500 was 1.23% firmer at 4,631.60 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.84% stronger at 14,619.64.

The Dow closed 338.30 points higher on Tuesday, extending gains recorded in the previous session.

The latest developments in the Ukraine-Russia war were in focus on Tuesday, with Russia reportedly planning to "dramatically" scale back military operations near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

The announcement, which included a pledge to reduce military activity around the city of Chernihiv as well, came as peace talks between Russia and Ukraine concluded in Istanbul.

Alexander Fomin, Russia's deputy minister of defence, said that to "increase mutual trust, and create the necessary conditions for future negotiations to agree and sign a peace deal with Ukraine," Moscow would "dramatically reduce military activities in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv, several times over", the first major concession Moscow has made since it invaded at the end of February, according to Russian news agency Tass.

Also drawing an amount of investor attention were declines in energy prices recorded both today and yesterday, with Brent crude and West Texas intermediate extending Monday's losses with a 0.84% and 1.26% drop per barrel on Tuesday after Shanghai's recent lockdown, combined with a rising number of Covid cases in China, boosted concerns around Chinese oil demand.

In terms of the session's all-important macro points, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index bounced back slightly in March to stand at 107.2, up from 105.7 in March, but the expectations index, based on consumers' short-term outlook for income, business, and labour market conditions, declined to 76.6 from 80.8 as consumers cited rising prices, especially at the gas pump, and the war in Ukraine as factors.

On another note, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' JOLTS report revealed the number of job openings in the United States was 11.26m in February 2022, little changed from an upwardly revised 11.28m print in January and broadly in line with market expectations of 11.0m.

Elsewhere, the Federal Housing Finance Agency revealed that its housing index increased to 373.35 points in January, up from 367.64 points in December 2021.