us stocks closed sharply higher tuesday in a wild day for traders after federal reserve jerome powell warned that the central bank may need to keep raising interest rates to keep inflation heading lower the dow jones industrial average djia rose about 265 points or 08 ending near 34156 after sinking as low as 3363410 earlier in the session that ended three sessions in a row of declines according to dow jones market data the sp 500 index spx gained 13 while the nasdaq composite index scomp closed up 19 all three major stock indexes swung from gains to losses to sharp gains as of the closing bell after fed chair powell said he expects significant declines in us inflation this year but also that more rate hikes may be needed to keep costs of living coming down he also reiterated that central bankers expect to hold policy at a restrictive level for some time in bonds the policysensitive 2year treasury yield rose to 4469 the highest since nov 29 based on 3 pm eastern levels