Stocks rose on Wednesday as Wall Street staged a comeback after three weeks of losses across the broader market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 400 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.8% and 2%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +1.83% or +71.68 points to 3,979.87
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +1.40% or +435.98 points to 31,581.28
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +2.14% or +246.99 points to 11,791.90
Stocks rallied on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard reaffirmed that the central bank will continue to take aggressive actions to bring down inflation, while noting the potential downsides to its hawkish moves.
"At some point in the tightening cycle, the risks will become more two-sided," Brainard said in a speech in New York. "The rapidity of the tightening cycle and its global nature, as well as the uncertainty around the pace at which the effects of tighter financial conditions are working their way through aggregate demand, create risks associated with overtightening."
Brainard also noted that it will be "necessary" to see several months of low monthly inflation readings for the central bank to be "confident that inflation is moving back down to 2 percent".
Wednesday's moves also followed a Wall Street Journal article that suggested another 75 basis-point rate hike from the Fed is likely later this month.
"[Fed Chair Jerome] Powell's public pledge to reduce inflation, even if it increases unemployment, appears to have put the central bank on a path to raise interest rates by 0.75 percentage point rather than 0.50 point this month," the article read.
The central bank also released its summary on current economic conditions, called its Beige Book, which showed that economic activity is expected to slow as inflation cools throughout the U.S. economy.
Elsewhere, oil prices slumped on Wednesday after a report that Russian President Vladimir Putin will cut off energy supply if price limits are imposed by Western powers on Russia's oil and gas exports in response to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) futures fell 3.7% to $82.93 per barrel, its lowest level since Jan. 24. International benchmark Brent (NYSE: BNO) crude futures slipped 3.4% to $88.92 a barrel, marking its lowest level since Feb. 3.
For stocks, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) unveiled its iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro Wednesday afternoon at its annual product launch event. The stock closed about 1% higher.
Looking ahead, investors will be focused on GameStop's (NYSE: GME) earnings after the bell, as well as upcoming remarks from Powell Thursday morning.