03:48 PM EDT, 07/02/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were higher ahead of Tuesday's close after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said policymakers have made "quite a bit of progress" against inflation.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.7% at 18,006.3, while the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 5,501.9. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.3% to 39,295.2. Among sectors, consumer discretionary led the gainers, while health care and energy saw the steepest declines.

Powell said the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee has made "quite a bit of progress" in bringing inflation back to its target, but it needs to see more encouraging data before lowering interest rates, CNBC reported.

"The last (inflation) reading and the one before it to a lesser extent, suggest that we are getting back on the disinflationary path," Powell reportedly said at a central banking forum in Portugal. "We want to be more confident that inflation is moving sustainably down toward 2% before we start the process of reducing or loosening policy."

The US 10-year yield fell 4.9 basis points to 4.43%, while the two-year rate dropped 3.3 basis points to 4.74%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped 0.6% to $82.92 a barrel.