The stock market of the United States is showing a certain upswing: support is provided by the position of NATO not to physically interfere in the geopolitical crisis, as well as the manifestation of allied solidarity within the alliance.

Additional optimism was brought by statements by the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Neil Kashkari, that he expects 7 rate hikes by 25 basis points this year. At the same time, the representative of the Fed noted the likelihood of overdoing it on the issue of tightening monetary policy. 

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans expects a similar scenario with 3 more increases in 2023, but at the same time excludes the possibility of a 50 bp rate hike.

American macrostatistics turned out to be contradictory. The number of initial applications for unemployment benefits decreased by 28 thousand last week (to 187 thousand), which is the lowest value since 1969. Orders for durable goods decreased by 2.2% in February, and excluding defense orders – by 2.7%. 

Business activity, on the contrary, shows growth already in March. According to preliminary estimates, the index of business activity in the service sector in February increased from 56.5% to 58.9%, and the manufacturing PMI increased from 57.3% to 58.5%.

From corporate news, it is worth highlighting the growth of Uber shares by 4.96% after the announcement that the company has agreed to subscribe all taxi drivers in New York to its app. All sectors of the S&P 500 showed growth. The strongest were communications (+1.69%), information technology (+2.71%) and materials (+1.96%).