US stock market opens higher as Ukraine crisis cools down

By Ovunc Kutlu​​​​​​​

ANKARA (AA) - Major indices in the US stock market opened higher Tuesday as a crisis between Russia and Ukraine has relatively cooled and American producer prices slightly fell on an annual level.

The Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures changes in the price of goods and services from a producer perspective, stood at 9.7% in January on an annual basis. It was expected to show an annual increase of 9.1%. The December figure came in at 9.8%.

The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier that it is withdrawing some troops after they completed military drills. It added, however, that other major military exercises would continue.

The Dow Jones fell 420 points, or 1.22%, to 34,986. The S&P 500 lost 62 points, or 1.4%, to 4,463.

The Nasdaq jumped 265 points, or 1.92%, to 14,056 points.

Amid easing tensions, the VIX volatility index fell 8.6% to 25.9, while the dollar index was down 0.3% to 96.10.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes, however, rose 2% to 2.036%.

Precious metals and crude oil retreated from their highs in almost eight years.

Gold was down 1.25% to $1,848 per ounce and silver fell 2.6% to $23.21.

Oil lost more than 4% as Brent crude was trading at $92.18 per barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $90.85.