Market Pulse: Dow, S&P 500 close nearly 2% higher as stock market parses Powell’s House testimony, Ukraine-Russia conflict

U.S. stocks posted sharp gains on Wednesday, as Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rallied, as investors watched Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine and parsed testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who provided the clearest signals to date on the central bank’s plan later this month to lift interest rates in its combat against punchy inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+1.79%
rose almost 600 points, or 1.8%, at around 33,889, and briefly recaptured a perch at 34,000 before pulling back somewhat.

The S&P 500 index
SPX,
+1.86%
advanced 1.9% to 4,387, with all 11 sectors of the broad-market benchmark ending higher led by gains in financials
SP500.40,
+2.55%,
up 2.6%, and energy
SP500.10,
+2.22%
and materials
SP500.15,
+2.23%,
both up 2.2%.

The Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
+1.62%
advanced 1.6% to 13,752.

For the week, the Dow is off 0.5%, the S&P 500 is near the flat line up 0.04%, and the Nasdaq Composite boasts a 0.4% gain.

The 10-year Treasury note yield
TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.887%
rose 15.4 basis points, marking its largest daily rise since March 18, 2020.

April West Texas Intermediate crude futures CL.1 rose $7.19, or nearly 7%, to settle at $110.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Notably, the 10-year Treasury note yield rose by the most a day since March of 2020 as comments from Powell and relaxation of some trepidation about the fighting in Eastern Europe gave way to selling in government bonds.