U.S. Stocks Finish Higher as Tech Shares Climb

The S&P 500 added 0.9%, snapping a five-day losing streak. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.4%, building on Monday’s midday turnaround. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.5%.

During the hearing, Mr. Powell said the central bank plans to move as aggressively as needed to cool inflation. “If we have to raise interest rates more over time, we will,” he told lawmakers.

The bank has made no decisions about shrinking its balance sheet, he added, saying also that “it’s a long road to normal” for monetary policy.

Stocks have been volatile as the prospect of imminent and faster-than-expected interest-rate rises has convulsed financial markets this month. Mr. Powell on Tuesday played up the central bank’s role in taming inflation, while reiterating that interest rates are likely to remain at historically low levels.

He added that he was optimistic that supply-chain bottlenecks would ease this year to help bring down inflation.

“Historically, stocks perform well in the months leading up the first rate hike of a cycle,” said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer of global wealth management at UBS Group, in a note to clients Tuesday. He added that since 1983, the S&P 500 has risen an average of 5.3% in the first three months before the first Fed rate increase, followed by an average of 5.3% over the next six months.

Still, investors remained jittery as stock indexes stayed volatile.

“There is more of a risk now that rate rises are going to coincide with falling growth, and that is obviously a bad combination,” said Altaf Kassam, head of investment strategy for State Street Global Advisors in Europe.

During the hearing, investors bought the dip on tech and other growth stocks. The tech and consumer discretionary sectors of the S&P 500 both rose recently about 1%, after trading in the red earlier in the session. Communication services stocks added 0.8%.

Amazon.com rose 2.4%. Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Apple added more than 1%.

Energy stocks climbed, coinciding with a rise in oil prices.

Other stocks making big individual moves included Illumina, which added 17% after posting earnings late Monday that beat analysts’ expectations. Shares of Rivian Automotive added 2.6%, recouping some of the more-than-5% drop Monday when The Wall Street Journal reported that the electric-truck maker’s chief operating officer had departed. Albertsons fell 9.8%, despite the grocery chain reporting higher quarterly sales.

A rally in government bond yields halted a day after the 10-year Treasury yield settled at a 52-week high. The yield on the benchmark bond edged down to 1.745% Tuesday from 1.779% Monday.

Investors also are gearing up for the start of earnings season this week. The reports will be particularly important for technology firms which will need to post strong growth to justify their valuations, said Mr. Kassam.

Results more broadly will need to be robust to support U.S. stocks, which are increasingly looking less attractive than their European counterparts, he added. “For the U.S. to keep its top-of-the-world stance it needs across the board earnings to come in strong.” 

Reports later in the week will be dominated by financial firms, with BlackRock, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo set to report Friday.

Overseas, the Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.8%, led by gains for its tech sector. Deutsche Bank fell 1.5% and Commerzbank declined nearly 5% after the Journal reported that Cerberus Capital Management was selling more than 20 million shares of each company. 

In Asia, stock markets were mostly lower. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.9%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was flat. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.7%.

Write to Will Horner at [email protected] and Michael Wursthorn at [email protected]