03:48 PM EDT, 04/03/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were struggling for direction ahead of Wednesday's close as markets parsed the latest remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1% at 39,126.5, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2% to 16,272.2. The S&P 500 was up 0.1% at 5,211.8. Among sectors, consumer staples and utilities led the decliners, while materials and energy paced the gainers.

Powell said the current economic strength and progress on inflation likely give policymakers the time to let incoming data guide their decisions on monetary policy. "We do not expect that it will be appropriate to lower our policy rate until we have greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably down toward 2%."

The US two-year yield fell 2.2 basis points to 4.68%, while the 10-year rate lost 1.2 basis points to 4.36%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 0.4% to $85.50 per barrel.