Technology stocks on Thursday lifted Wall Street's main indexes from a sharp fall in the previous session, while investors closely tracked a meeting of Western leaders as the Ukraine crisis enters its second month.
Ten of the 11 major S&P sectors advanced in early trading, with energy, technology and materials gaining the most.
"This is classic buy-the-dip and it's afforded people to add on to some core positions like Apple, which are good long-term story, at cheaper prices," said Greg Swenson, founding partner of Brigg Macadam.
"This is going to continue as long as there's this geopolitical tensions with the war in Ukraine and then followed by volatility in oil and gas."
U.S. President Joe Biden took part in a closed-door session with European allies at a special NATO summit on Thursday amid a dispute over whether to impose further energy sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
The meeting comes against the backdrop of the United States ramping up pressure on Moscow through sanctions on dozens of Russian defense companies, hundreds of members of its parliament and the chief executive of the country's largest bank.
"While the stock market is attempting to recover from its correction, markets are fundamentally riskier and more uncertain than before Russia's invasion of Ukraine," said Richard Saperstein, chief investment officer, Treasury Partners in New York.
Growth stocks Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc, Tesla Inc, Meta Platforms and Nvidia Corp gained between 0.7% and 4.5% to provide the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes.
U.S. stocks have climbed in five of the last seven sessions as investors snapped up beaten-down technology stocks and oil prices eased from multi-year highs on hopes of progress in the Ukraine peace talks.
However, Saperstein warned that unprecedented sanctions can trigger unplanned financial, energy and agricultural shocks, resulting in market-moving events. At 10:08 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 171.20 points, or 0.50%, at 34,529.70, the S&P 500 was up 26.35 points, or 0.59%, at 4,482.59, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 63.84 points, or 0.46%, at 13,986.44.
Apple shares were set for eighth consecutive day of gains after getting hammered earlier this month.
Big banks rose with Wells Fargo up 1.2%. Banks have underperformed so far this month even as the U.S. central bank last week raised interest rates for the first time since 2018.
Concerns about aggressive interest rate hikes hampering economic growth have grown recently with several Federal Reserve officials talking about bigger rate increases.
Meanwhile, data showed a measure of U.S. business activity increased to an eight-month high in March, fueled by strong demand for both goods and services, but Russia's war against Ukraine hurt sentiment.
Uber Technologies Inc climbed 3.2% after the ride-hailing firm reached a deal to list all New York City taxis on its app. Shares of rival Lyft fell 1.7%.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.47-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.31-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 16 new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 26 new highs and 33 new lows.
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