© Reuters.
By Liz Moyer
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks closed higher as tech stocks led the Dow in a late afternoon rally.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell wrapped up his two-day semiannual testimony on Capitol Hill, telling lawmakers about the state of the economy and answering questions about inflation and central bank policy.
At 4:14 PM ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 194 points or 0.6%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 1.6%.
Stocks closed Wednesday on a sour note after Powell told lawmakers in the Senate a recession was possible but that the central bank was “strongly committed” to taming inflation using interest rate hikes. He also said the economy was strong enough to endure multiple rate increases.
UBS joined Goldman Sachs and Citigroup in raising the odds of a recession at some point in the next year. The Swiss banking company put the odds at 69%.
Shares of home builder KB Home (NYSE:KBH) rose more than 8% after it renewed its outlook for the year despite saying it sees the housing market moderating this year.
Funko Inc (NASDAQ:FNKO) shares rose 12% after an upgrade from JPMorgan to overweight. The analysts called the toy industry a safe haven in the current market.
Darden Restaurants Inc (NYSE:DRI) shares rose 0.4% even after it reported profit of $2.24 a share on revenue of $2.6 billion, both beating expectations.
Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) rose 0.6% after Warren Buffett’s conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) disclosed it bought more than $500 million of shares to raise its stake to 16.3%.
Oil couldn't hold onto earlier gains. Crude Oil WTI Futures fell 1.9% to under $105 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures fell 1.6% to under $110 a barrel. Gold Futures fell 0.6% to $1,826.
