03:50 PM EST, 03/06/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were mostly higher ahead of Wednesday's close, as markets evaluated remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's Congressional testimony before the House.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were up 0.3% each at 5,094.5 and 15,982.5, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed at 38,602.8. Barring consumer discretionary and communication services, all other sectors were in the green, led by utilities.

"If the economy evolves broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy restraint at some point this year," Powell said in his semi-annual testimony. However, "the economic outlook is uncertain, and ongoing progress toward our 2% inflation objective is not assured."

Powell is scheduled to deliver his testimony before the Senate on Thursday.

The US 10-year yield fell 2.7 basis points to 4.11%, while the two-year rate gained one basis point to 4.56%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.1% to $78.98 per barrel.