03:46 PM EDT, 07/09/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were mixed of Tuesday's close after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said inflation seems to have improved in recent months, though the job is not done yet.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both up 0.1% at 5,576.7 and 18,415.7, respectively, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 39,299.2. Among sectors, financials led the gainers, and materials posted the steepest decline.

"More good (inflation) data would strengthen" the case for potential monetary policy easing in the US, Powell said in prepared remarks to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

"The (Federal Open Market Committee) has stated that we do not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range for the federal funds rate until we have gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%," he said. Although Q1 inflation data didn't support "such greater confidence," the most recent readings indicated some modest further progress, Powell said.

The US 10-year yield rose 2.9 basis points to 4.30%, and the two-year rate gained a point to 4.62%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 1% to $81.55 a barrel.