U.S. stocks ended mildly higher Tuesday after wavering in a tight range, as Wall Street digested Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's comments delivered during her semi-annual testimony.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 24.86 points, or 0.14 percent, to 17,829.73. The S&P 500 increased 5.65 points, or 0.27 percent, to 2,088.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index inched up 6.55 points, or 0.14 percent, to 4,843.76.
Yellen kicked off her two-day testimony before Congress with a session scheduled Tuesday morning before the Senate Banking Committee.
Yellen pointed out "considerable uncertainty" about the U.S. economic outlook, which includes slow job gains, weak investment, slow productivity growth, and vulnerabilities in the global economy.
"Proceeding cautiously in raising the federal funds rate will allow us to keep the monetary support to economic growth in place while we assess whether growth is returning to a moderate pace, whether the labor market will strengthen further, and whether inflation will continue to make progress toward our 2 percent objective," Yellen said.
Asian stocks were steady on Wednesday as nervous investors counted down to Britain's make-or-break EU referendum, while Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's cautious tone on future rate hikes added to a subdued mood in markets.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 percent though Japan's Nikkei shed 0.7 percent.
Reference: Xinhua, Reuters
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