Stocks are trading higher in early trade in Wall Street on Thursday as a streak of cautious trading continues on the world market.

The S&P 500 index rose 0.72% to 4,488.80 as of 11:08 am Eastern Time Zone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 34,534.20 or 0.51% to 34,534.20. The Nasdaq rose 71.72 points or 0.52% to 13,994.32.

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Technology and communications stock witnessed heavy gains. Many of the companies have outsized values that tend to sway the broader market in either direction. Chipmaker Nvidia climbed 3.5% and Facebook parent, Meta, surged 1.6%.

Over the past few days, major U.S. indexes have alternated between gains and losses.

European markets were also mixed. Germany’s DAX slipped 0.2%, while France’s CAC 40 fell 0.2% and Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1%. Indexes in Asia were mostly ended with losses.

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Crude oil prices eased after jumping a day earlier. US benchmark crude oil fell 1.4% and Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, slipped 1.1%. Overall, international oil prices are high over 50% in 2022 due to continuously rising inflation and worries about supply shortages because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Investors around the world were gauging to see the result of the meetings of NATO and a European leaders summit Thursday. Officials Further ways of isolating and punishing the Russian Federation are being discussed.

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Rubble value has plummeted as a result of sanctions, prompting Russia’s stock exchange to close nearly a month ago. Thursday’s reopening was subject to strict restrictions to prevent another massive selloff like the one experienced in anticipation of Western economic and financial sanctions.

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Wall Street is watching the latest progress on the conflict as it tries to determine how much it could worsen inflation and potentially shrink global economic growth. Consumers and businesses have been facing increasing materials and goods prices, which has prompted central banks to raise interest rates to temper the impact of inflation.

Bond yields have been increasing overall as the market prepares for higher interest rates. The yield on the 10-year Treasury surged to 2.36% from 2.31% late Wednesday.

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Investors received an encouraging update on the labor market’s continued recovery. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week declined to its lowest level in five decades. The upbeat report adds to data earlier this month that showed employers added a robust 678,000 jobs in February, the largest monthly total since July.