02:16 PM EDT, 07/02/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were mostly higher intraday as markets weighed remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.6% at 17,977 after midday Tuesday, while the S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 5,488.8. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed at 39,169.4. Among sectors, consumer discretionary led the gainers, while energy saw the steepest decline.

Powell said policymakers have made "quite a bit of progress" in bringing inflation back to their target, though they need to see more encouraging data before reducing 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 three basis points to 4.45% intraday, while the two-year rate dropped 3.1 basis points to 4.74%.

In economic news, US job openings rose to 8.14 million in May from a 7.92 million reading the previous month, compared with a 7.95 million print expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 0.2% to $83.21 a barrel intraday.

In company news, Tesla (TSLA) shares jumped 8%, the best performer on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, after the electric vehicle maker logged stronger-than-expected second-quarter deliveries, which Wedbush Securities said indicate the worst is over for the company.

Biogen (BIIB) said it has completed its acquisition of privately held clinical-stage biotechnology firm Human Immunology Biosciences. Biogen shares were down 2.5% intraday, the steepest decline on the Nasdaq.

Gold was down 0.3% at $2,332.40 per troy ounce, while silver rose 0.1% to $29.65 per ounce.