US close: Stocks close higher as investors digest rate hike comments

dl nyse new york stock exchange wall st street city finance dow jones nasdaq sp finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america 2 — New York Stock ExchangeSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street closed higher on Tuesday as market participants digested comments from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell regarding rate hikes.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.74% at 34,807.46, while the S&P 500 was 1.13% firmer at 4,511.61 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.95% stronger at 14,108.82.

The Dow closed 254.47 points higher on Tuesday, reversing losses recorded in the previous session amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and the crash of a passenger plane in China.

Comments from the Fed chair from a day earlier were still on focus on Tuesday, with Powell potentially opening the door for the central bank to take a more aggressive monetary policy stance moving forward. Powell stated the Fed must move "expeditiously" to bring too-high inflation under control, adding it will, if needed, use bigger-than-usual interest rate hikes to do so.

Commodity prices were also drawing an amount of investor attention, with Brent futures easing off after surging on Monday on the back of news that the European Union was mulling over the idea of banning Russian oil, while the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hit a high of 2.39% in the session - its highest level since May 2019.

Investors also still closely watched the conflict in Eastern Europe, with president Joe Biden stating Russian president Vladimir Putin's back was "against the wall" as his war with Ukraine nears a stalemate.

On the macro front, the Richmond Fed composite manufacturing index increased to 13 in March, a marked improvement when compared to February's reading of 1, pointing to an improvement in Fifth District manufacturing activity as increases were seen in all components.

In the corporate space, Nike shares were in the green after the retailer posted third-quarter earnings that beat on both the top and bottom line thanks to solid demand in North America, while Carnival shares were down after posting disappointing quarterly sales as a spike in Covid-19 cases impacted demand.

Dow Jones - Risers

Boeing Co. (BA) $191.04 2.76%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $133.09 2.23%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $142.62 2.13%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $48.39 2.11%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $218.21 2.10%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $168.82 2.08%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $304.06 1.64%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $238.12 1.19%
American Express Co. (AXP) $191.33 1.18%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $342.75 1.18%