US stocks shrug off weakness, Nasdaq jumps 1.4%

NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street stocks shook off recent weakness and advanced on Tuesday (Jan 11) after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell outlined steps to combat inflation in remarks that analysts viewed as not overly hawkish.

Tech shares, which have been especially bruised in the January market pullback amid worries over higher interest rates, led stocks, while the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note declined.

Mr Powell, appearing in a confirmation hearing for a second term as Fed leader, described inflation as "very near the top of the list" of his priorities, and added that the recovery had reached the point where "it's time to move away from emergency pandemic settings".

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5 per cent to 36,252.02.

The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 0.9 per cent to 4,713.07, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.4 per cent to 15,153.45.

"Powell wasn't as hawkish as people might have feared, but he was relatively hawkish still," said Mr Shaun Osborne, an analyst at Scotiabank.

"It's pretty clear that the Fed feels the US economy is pretty close to full employment, which is the clearest sign we have had from him that rates will probably go up in March."

Oanda's Edward Moya described Mr Powell as "not overly hawkish", though he noted most investors agree on a rate increase in two months' time.

Among individual companies, Illumina jumped 17 per cent after releasing a sales forecast that topped expectations.