What was shaping up to be another down day in markets has reversed in Tuesday afternoon U.S. trading after Ukraine agreed to a Trump administration proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Russia.
Russia has yet to weigh in, but the agreement will hinge on that country’s acceptance, according to a joint statement of Ukraine and the U.S. after a meeting of their delegations in Saudi Arabia.
As part of the agreement, the U.S. will immediately lift a pause on intelligence sharing and military assistance to Ukraine, the statement continued.
Trade tensions ease as well
Helping the mood, Ontario Premier Doug Ford agreed to suspend a 25% electricity export surcharge he had put in place against a number of U.S. states.
The surcharge was made in retaliation to 25% tariffs Trump had placed on Canadian imports last week. Shooting back at that, Trump earlier Tuesday had threatened to double that tariff to 50% for steel and aluminum imports from the U.S. neighbor to the north.
Markets gain
Adding to yesterday’s major losses, markets were again sharply lower prior to the news, but the Nasdaq has moved into the green by 1.25% and the S&P 500 by 0.4%.
Crypto markets have turned nicely higher as well, with bitcoin (BTC) now up by 7% over the past 24 hours to $83,300 after dropping as low as $76,000 overnight. Ether (ETH) is ahead 5.6% and Solana’s (SOL) by 10%.