(Reuters] – U.S. Stock Index Futures fell Wednesday due to a waning optimism about Ukraine-Russia peace negotiations and a shift in focus towards the possibility of rapidly increasing interest rates weighing down economic growth.

While the Kremlin said Wednesday that no progress had been made, it accepted the fact Kyiv’s written demands to end conflict.

Russia and Ukraine both pledged on Tuesday that they would reduce their military activities in Kyiv (and northern Ukraine) respectively. Ukraine however proposed a neutral status.

Markets were hit hard by worries about rising rates and fears over the effects of war in the first quarter. This put the Wall Street Indexes in their worst quarter since 2020, when they had been at the peak of the pandemic selloff.

However, indexes look set to finish March higher due to the elimination of more than half their quarterly losses within the last few hours, driven by positive economic data, and gains in megacaps.

Apple (NASDAQ:), posted its 11th consecutive session with gains on Tuesday. However, premarket trading was 0.5% slower.

Others megacap companies include Tesla (NASDAQ) Inc, Meta Platforms Inc. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ) and Alphabet. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:) fell between 0.1% to 0.5%. This month, the NYSE FANG+TM Index is up 8.8%.

However, investors have questions about how the surge could continue in face of the Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance, the warnings of recession on the bond market, and the uncertainty surrounding geopolitical risks.

On Tuesday, the widely-reported U.S. Treasury yield curve of 2-year/10 year was briefly inverted. This occurred because bond investors believed that an aggressive Fed tightening could cause a decline in the U.S. economy’s long term prospects. [US/]

ADP National Employment Report is due to be released at 08:15 AM. ET will show that private payrolls increased 450,000 jobs in March compared with a gain of 475,000 in February.

Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE 🙂 Chevron Corporation (NYSE:) gained 0.6% as the crude oil prices recouped some of these week’s severe losses. [O/R]

At 07:18 am. ET fell 85 points or 0.24% and was down 11.75 or 0.25%. They were also down 56 or 0.37%.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ) rose 4.3% following the forecast of Micron Technology’s third quarter revenue exceeding Wall Street estimates.

Lululemon Athletica Inc jumped 7.6% when it forecasted full-year profits and revenues above expectations. The reason for this was that the demand for sportswear remains strong, even though people are returning to work.

This story corrects typos in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3.