02:29 PM EDT, 07/15/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity were higher after midday Monday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said policymakers won't wait for inflation to fall to 2% before reducing interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5% at 40,186 intraday, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3% each to 5,630.4 and 18,450, respectively. Among sectors, energy and financials led the gainers, while utilities saw the steepest decline.

Powell said the Federal Open Market Committee's monetary policy works with "long and variable lags," CNBC reported.

"The implication of that is that if you wait until inflation gets all the way down to 2%, you've probably waited too long, because the tightening that you're doing, or the level of tightness that you have, is still having effects which will probably drive inflation below 2%," Powell reportedly said.

The FOMC is seeking "greater confidence" that inflation will return to its 2% target, he added, according to the report.

The US 10-year yield rose 4.2 basis points to 4.23% intraday, while the two-year rate dropped one basis point to 4.45%.

Inflation in the US continues to be "uneven and bumpy at best" despite recent signs of improvement, Stifel said in a note to clients. "With three months of accelerating price pressures at the start of the year, at this point, two months of more favorable data in May and June is not enough to justify a change in policy, at least not yet," the firm wrote.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 0.4% to $81.86 a barrel intraday.

UnitedHealth ( UNH ) , Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) , Bank of America ( BAC ) , Morgan Stanley ( MS ) , Netflix ( NFLX ) , Abbott Laboratories ( ABT ) , American Express ( AXP ) , Schlumberger ( SLB ) and United Airlines (UAL) are some of the major companies scheduled to release their latest quarterly financial results later this week.

Tesla (TSLA) shares were up 4.6% intraday, the top performer on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

Goldman Sachs' ( GS ) second-quarter earnings more than doubled on a yearly basis, driven by double-digit gains in investment banking fees and asset and wealth management revenue. The lender's shares rose 1.7%.

CenterPoint Energy ( CNP ) shares fell 6.3%, among the steepest declines on the S&P 500, after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demanded an investigation into the company's "inability to restore power" in the Houston area after Hurricane Beryl made landfall.

Macy's (M) said it terminated go-private discussions with Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital due to financing uncertainty and value concerns. The department store operator's shares tumbled nearly 12%.

Gold was up 0.3% at $2,427 per troy ounce, while silver fell 0.8% to $30.92 per ounce.