Wall Street today: Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq rise after Jerome Powell’s Speech

US stock indices opened higher on Wednesday after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

As of 9:35 AM Eastern Time, the S&P 500 edged up by 0.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.1% higher.

At the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 76.2 points, or 0.16%, to 46,368.94. The S&P 500 rose 12.9 points, or 0.19%, to 6,669.79​, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 82.5 points, or 0.37%, to 22,656.015.

On Tuesday, Powell had characterized equities as “fairly highly valued.”

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.13% from 4.12% late on Tuesday.

Lithium Americas stock jumped more than 80% after reports that the Trump administration was in talks to take an equity stake in the Vancouver-based mining company as part of a renegotiation of a government loan for a Nevada mining project.

Cintas stock fell 1.8% despite the company reporting slightly better quarterly earnings.

Bullion

Gold prices were flat near a record high on Wednesday.

As of 09:40 AM ET (1340 GMT), spot gold was steady at $3,765.02 per ounce. US gold futures for December delivery fell 0.5% to $3,798.20.

Among other metals, spot silver rose 0.3% to $44.15 per ounce, platinum gained 0.1% to $1,479.34 and palladium added 0.8% to $1,228.85.

Crude Oil

Oil prices surged on Wednesday as an industry report showed US crude inventories fell last week.

Brent futures were up 97 cents, or 1.4%, to $68.60 a barrel at 1321 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 99 cents, or 1.6%, to $64.40.