NEW YORK: U.S. stocks moved higher Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Dow industrials closing at records, as the market read Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s testimony before Congress as a reassurance that a rate hike might not occur until the second half of the year.
The S&P 500 SPX, +0.28% finished up by 5.82 points, or 0.3%, at 2,115.48, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.51% gained 92.35 points, or 0.5%, to end at 18,209.19.
The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.14% added 7.15 points, or 0.1%, to end at 4,968.12, leaving it just 1.6% off its March 2000 peak. The tech-heavy index advanced for the 10th session in a row, scoring its longest winning streak since mid-2009, when it rose for 12 straight days.
Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial, said the market reaction to Yellen’s testimony indicated that her comments were perceived as dovish.
“The 10-year yields fell, the dollar gave up gains and stocks rose, even though those moves were not huge. At this point, just as the Fed is data-dependent, markets are data-dependent, too,” Krosby said.
