US stocks surge on easing trade war fears

Major US equity indices opened sharply higher on Tuesday and were being supported by easing concerns about escalating trade conflict between the world's two largest economies.

In his first public appearance since the ongoing trade dispute with the US, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday promised to cut import tariffs and raise foreign ownership limit in various sectors. His comments were taken positively by market participants and turned out to be one of the key factors behind buoyant global markets.

This coupled with the prevailing bullish sentiment around oil markets, with Brent crude prices breaking above the $70.00/barrel mark, boosted energy stocks and remained supportive of the early strong up-move.

During the opening hour of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged around 380-points to 24,355 and the broader S&P 500 Index added over 30-points to 2646. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed nearly 90-points and jumped back above the 7,000 mark.

Meanwhile, the market seems to have largely shrugged off renewed geopolitical tension, wherein the US is said to be preparing for a possible military strike against Syria over a suspected chemical weapons attack.

On the economic data front, the US wholesale prices rose by 0.3% in March, with core reading hitting 7-year highs and surpassing consensus estimates. The data indicated widespread inflationary pressure in the economy and revived hope for faster Fed monetary policy tightening cycle. The same was evident from surging US bond yields but did little to dampen investors' appetite for riskier assets - like equities.