• The Nasdaq rose 1.6% to close Friday’s session at 13,695 points.
• Block shares surged 26% on Q4 and FY21 results topping expectations.
• Footlocker plunged 30% on FY22 forecast and declining Nike sales.

The US markets rallied on Friday after Moscow officials said they were willing to meet with Ukranian officials suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin remained open to negotiation with Ukraine.

The Dow Jones rose 2.5% to finish the trading day up 835 points to close at 34,059 points.

The tech heavy NASDAQ rose 1.6% to finish the trading day up 221 points to close at 13,695 points with Amazon and Facebook gaining 1.61% and 1.39% respectively.

One bitcoin is worth US$37,560 going into the Asian trading day.

The Australian dollar is stronger against the major currencies and is buying 71.78 US cents.

Block shares jumped 26% on Friday after the fintech company formerly known as Square, reported better-than-expected profit and revenue for the fourth quarter and full year. For the period, Block reported EPS of US$0.27/share on revenue of US$4.08bn, gross payment volume for the quarter hit US$46.3bn and gross profit on the Cash App came in at US$518m.

Footlocker shares plunged 29.8% on Friday after the footwear retail giant projected revenue to drop in 2022 in anticipation of no longer being able to sell as many products from Nike, its biggest brand as Nike continues to sell more of its products directly to customers. For the fourth-quarter, Footlocker reported net income of US$102m, down from US$123m for the same period a year earlier.

And actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have pledged to match up to US$1m in aid to Ukranians amid the current invasion on the country from Russia.