Investing.com – Wall Street struggled for direction as investors pour over remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
The S&P 500 was up two points or 0.09% to 2,782.05 as of 9:42 AM ET (14:42 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 22 points or 0.09% to 25,731.87, and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite rose over a point and a half or 0.02% to 7,422.98.
Powell is expected to give testimony before the House Financial Services Committee at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT). In his prepared remarks released before the hearing, he reiterated the need for gradual rate hikes and noted that financial conditions were accommodative, despite recent volatility.
Investors will pay close attention to any additional comments on his views on the recent uptick in inflation and how that can affect the current rate-hiking path.
Technology stocks were mixed after the morning bell. Google’s Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was down 0.74% while Square (NYSE:SQ) fell 1.76% and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) inched downed 0.11%. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 0.45% while Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 1.05% and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) gained 0.68%.
Meanwhile Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) fell 1.74% after news that Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was making a bid for European media conglomerate Sky. Comcast was down 5.96%.
Elsewhere General Electric (NYSE:GE) recovered 1.70% after falling to its lowest level since 2010 on Monday. The shares fell after the company announced potential action by the U.S. Justice Department related to subprime mortgage violations.
In Europe stocks were mixed. In Germany the DAX fell 25 points or 0.20% while France’s CAC 40 increased five points or 0.10% and in London the FTSE 100 gained 17 points or 0.24%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 was up two points or 0.03% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 inched down seven points or 0.23%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.21% to $1,330.00 a troy ounce while crude oil futures fell 0.22% to $63.77 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.33% to 89.97.