Major indexes fell ahead of testimony from Jerome Powell

The major indexes briefly traded in the red as stocks dropped ahead of congressional testimony from Fed chief Jerome Powell. However, near the close, the indexes recovered. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded higher. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rebounded and led the indexes with a modest gain. The Nasdaq composite also witnessed a small rise.

In the previous session, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell appeared before Congress. He announced that inflation would likely remain elevated in the following months before recovering. Powell also reassured investors that the Federal Reserve’s easy monetary policies would remain in place.

The Nasdaq declined by 0.22%, or 32.7 points to 14,644.95, whereas the S&P 500 surged 0.12% and reached 4,374.3. The Dow Jones industrials rose 0.13% to 34,933.23. Meanwhile, the small-cap Russell 2000 index declined by 1.62% to 2,202.36.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) were Apple, Coca-Cola and Honeywell International. Apple Inc increased by 2.47% or 3.60 points and traded at 149.24. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola Co surged 2.31% or 1.27 points to 56.29. Honeywell International Inc gained 1.65% or 3.69 points to 227.77 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Chevron Corp, which declined 1.89% or 1.96 points to trade at 101.97 at the close. Boeing Co dropped 1.69% or 3.86 points to end at 224.34, and Caterpillar Inc fell by 1.65% or 3.54 points to 211.65.

The release of the weekly initial jobless claims data is due today

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were SGOCO Group Ltd, which soared 36.33% to 13.074, Datasea Inc, which surged 34.81% to 3.950 and Bon Natural Life Ltd, which increased 33.26% to close at 11.86.

The worst performers were Allena Pharmaceuticals Inc which declined by 35.47% to 0.8969 in late trade, Allied Healthcare Products Inc, which fell 31.13% to 6.240. Additionally, Antelope Enterprise Holdings Ltd, which dipped 25.75% to 2.970 at the close.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which gauges the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, dropped 4.61% to 16.33.

The release of the weekly initial jobless claims data is due today, the most current gauge of the state of the U.S. labor market. Analysts expect the data to show a slowly recovering market, with claims expected to decline to 360,000 last week, a decline from 373,000 the previous week.

Remarkably, the June industrial production number is also due today, which is anticipated to rise 0.6% from May. Meanwhile, June manufacturing production is expected to increase 0.2% from the last month.