12:09 PM EDT, 03/19/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes rose alongside gains in government bond yields ahead of the policy announcements from the Federal Reserve and Chair Jerome Powell's press briefing on Wednesday.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.2% to 17,723.8, with the S&P 500 up 0.9% to 5,665.5 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average trading 0.8% higher at 41,923.3 after midday Wednesday.

Consumer discretionary, energy, and technology led the gainers intraday.

The Fed's monetary policy decision for March is due 2 pm ET, and Powell is scheduled to hold a press conference at 2:30 pm. The central bank likely held its benchmark lending rate unchanged in the 4.25% to 4.5% target range, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Most US Treasury yields rose intraday, with the two-year rate up 4.3 basis points to 4.06% and the 10-year yield 2.5 basis points higher at 4.31%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures rose 0.4% to $67.01 a barrel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to limit attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities while rejecting a broader 30-day ceasefire, Commerzbank said in a note. The US says talks on a full ceasefire will start immediately, the note added. The European Union and the United Kingdom also held talks to accelerate arms shipments to Ukraine.

US commercial crude oil stocks, excluding inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rose by 1.7 million barrels during the week ended March 14, following a 1.4 million barrel increase in the previous week, above the 1-million-barrel gain anticipated in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

In company news, Boeing's ( BA ) Q1 cash outflow is expected to be smaller than previously projected due to ongoing stabilization of factory operations and a clearing out of inventory, Chief Financial Officer Brian West said during a Bank of America (BAC) conference, according to a transcript from FactSet Wednesday. Boeing's ( BA ) shares jumped 6.4% intraday, the top performer on the S&P 500 and the Dow.