Stocks higher as bond yields steady, Intel jumps

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday as bond yields slid following a disappointing reading on a key manufacturing report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading up over 240 points, or 0.76%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.8% and 0.48%, respectively.

The outperformance by the tech-heavy Nasdaq comes as the 10-year yield slipped 3 basis points to 1.635%, a one-week low, a day after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell assured lawmakers that inflation will rise, but won’t spiral out of control. Both Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will return to Capitol Hill for the second day of testimony on the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also weighing on Treasury yields was the February durable goods report which showed shipments of big-ticket items excluding transportation fell 0.9% month over month, missing the 0.6% gain that economists surveyed by Refinitiv were anticipating. The disappointing data, which snapped a nine-month streak of increases, may have been impacted by winter storms that swept across the country last month.

Looking at stocks, Dow component Intel Corp. said it will build two new chip manufacturing facilities in Arizona as it renews efforts to produce chips for others amid a global shortage. The company’s plan also includes outsourcing the production of key components to other manufacturers.