Market shrugs off Ukraine vote, bounces on positive economic news in China

As you ready your trades today two international stories could have some sort of impact on markets here at home.

Two eastern Ukrainian provinces held referendums yesterday to decide on questions of self-rule. Interim Ukrainian president Oleksandr V. Turchynov called the votes "a farce", while in Moscow the Kremlin issued a statement saying, in part, that they respect “the will of the population” in those regions.

It seems from pre-market trading that the street is shrugging off the news.

Related: Why Wall Street doesn’t care about the Ukraine crisis

“I think it cares in a very big picture 'what if' way,” says Yahoo Finance’s senior columnist Michael Santoli. “One thing that might have happened because of the Ukraine tensions is energy stocks have been so strong. And by the way, that’s one of the very big reasons the S&P 500 is close to an all-time high, even when the average stock has gotten pummeled in this range-bound period right here. So, no I don’t think it really matters. It’s not really being transmitted through the actual commodity markets, it's not really hitting currencies in any big way so I think it’s a watch and wait story.”

What the markets do seem to be paying at least a little attention to is some bullish news out of China. The government there repeated its desire to open more state-owned companies to foreign investment and loosen restrictions on IPOs.

Related: How a former English teacher is about to become one of the richest people in the world

“When it comes to China it’s a short-term bullish catalyst,” Santoli notes, “a reminder that maybe even once in a while something decent economically can happen in China.” U.S. markets seem to be following their Asian counterparts higher on the news.

One more thing to keep an eye on today - an apparent bounce in the names that were hit so hard last week. Take Twitter for example. SunTrust has upgraded it from “neutral” to “buy.”

“I do think maybe a lot of that selling [of these names] is dried up now,” Santoli notes while cautioning, “It doesn’t mean we go up and away. It’s a very confusing market… Neutral sentiment is at a multi-year high. People just don’t know where to go...That’s not a terrible thing after a 30% up year.”

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