Can it be true? Markets this morning are up on the news that some Russian forces have been withdrawn from the Ukraine border.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.2% on the news, along with other major stock indexes, despite another report showing inflation was heating up.
The Kremlin said today that some troops are returning to their regular bases after completing drills. NATO, however, responded that it has yet to see evidence of such a pullback. It’s unclear what Russian units are involved, where their home bases are, and how close they are to Ukraine.
US intelligence has said that Russia may attack imminently, and American officials’ families have been evacuated from Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied that an invasion is planned, and it’s styled its massing of military might on three sides of Ukraine as an exercise only.
Meanwhile, the Producer Price Index increased 9.7% in January from 12 months before, and 1% from December, according to a US Bureau of Labor Statistics announcement this morning. The increase from December was the largest in eight months.
Analysts speculated that the market already expects a Federal Reserve drive to boost interest rates, so the PPI data was not surprising to the stock market—while the prospect of Russian de-escalation is a welcome relief, if it proves true.