Stocks rebound as Putin refrains from force for now

Stocks bounced back quickly from Monday's fall.

The MSCI All-Country World Index rose 1.3 percent on Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.5 percent to a new record high, the STOXX Europe 600 rose 2.1 percent and Russia's MICEX jumped 5.3 percent.

The rebound in markets occurred after Russian President Vladimir Putin told a news conference on Tuesday that while Russia reserved the right to use force in Ukraine, there was no need for it for now.

Earlier, Asian stocks had rebounded weakly though, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rising just 0.2 percent.

Among economic data on Tuesday, Japan reported that total labour cash earnings fell 0.2 percent in January from a year ago while in the UK, the Markit/CIPS construction PMI fell to 62.6 in February from 64.6, its highest level since August 2007, in January.