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The stock market jumped on Wednesday—despite oil prices skyrocketing to their highest level since 2011 amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress that the central bank plans to raise interest rates by a quarter-percentage-point this month as it looks to combat surging inflation.
Stocks rebound despite surging oil prices as the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalates.
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Stocks rebounded on Wednesday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.7%, around 600 points, while the S&P 500 gained 1.8% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 1.6%.
The market moved broadly higher even as oil prices continued to skyrocket due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with financials, energy and industrial stocks leading the gains.
Oil prices, which have surged higher in recent weeks, jumped to their highest level since 2011 on Wednesday: US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude jumped to roughly $110 per barrel, while global benchmark Brent crude rose to nearly $112 per barrel.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, meanwhile, said in testimony before Congress that the central bank plans to begin raising interest rates—beginning with a 0.25% rate hike in two weeks—amid mounting pressure to combat surging inflation, which remains at 40-year highs .
The Fed chairman did add, however, that the central bank is closely monitoring the Ukraine conflict and subsequent Western sanctions against Russia: “The implications for the US economy are highly uncertain,” Powell said, adding the Fed will “need to be nimble” and “proceed carefully.”
Even as Russian and Ukrainian officials prepare for a second round of negotiations on Wednesday, Russia’s military recently seized control of the southern city of Kherson, while the city of Kharkiv reported fresh missile strikes.