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The stock market jumped on Friday, with the Dow surging over 800 points—its best day since late 2020—amid reports that Russia is open to negotiating with Ukraine, even as Russian troops close in on the capital city of Kyiv and Ukraine has not yet agreed to meet for talks.
Markets rebounded on Friday amid reports that Russia said it is willing to negotiate with Ukraine.
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Stocks rebounded strongly on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.5%, over 800 points, while the S&P 500 jumped 2.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite 1.7%.
Despite remaining on track for weekly losses, all three major indexes rose for a second day in a row, with markets getting a major boost from reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be open to talks with Ukrainian leadership.
A Kremlin official said Friday that Moscow is willing to send a delegation to Belarusian capital Minsk for negotiations with Ukraine, ForbesUkraine reported, a day after Western leaders unveiled a new set of widespread sanctions against Russia.
The move comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly offered for his country to have a nonaligned status with NATO—a key demand of Putin’s in the weeks leading up to invasion that Western countries repeatedly rejected.
The latest developments, which boosted US stocks higher as investors hope for a quick resolution to the conflict, come even as Russian troops continued to advance on Kyiv, with reports that the bombing of Ukraine’s capital city intensified on Friday morning.
Oil prices moderated somewhat on Friday, declining slightly after a recent surge driven by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, briefly pushed prices above $100 per barrel, the highest level since 2014.