Yellen fuels a big day on Wall Street

NEW YORK - Bank stocks jumped Tuesday on hopes that bigger profits are ahead, and U.S. indexes again pushed to record highs.

Stocks had been mostly lower when the day's trading began, but indexes reversed course after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told a Senate committee that the central bank could raise interest rates as soon as next month. Bond yields jumped immediately afterward and fed through to shares of banks, which can benefit from higher rates by charging more for loans.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 9.33 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,337.58 for its sixth straight day of gains. Earlier in the day, it was down as much as 0.3 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 92.25 points, or 0.5 percent, to 20,504.41. The Nasdaq composite rose 18.62, or 0.3 percent, to 5,782.57. Slightly more stocks rose on the New York Stock Exchange than fell.

Yellen's testimony on Capitol Hill was much anticipated, but she said little to alter most investors' expectations. The Fed raised interest rates in December for just the second time in a decade, and Yellen said the strengthening job market and a modest move higher in inflation should warrant continued, gradual increases in interest rates.

Waiting too long to raise rates "would be unwise" and could eventually force the Fed to raise rates rapidly to catch up, Yellen said. But she also repeated the word "gradual" to describe expectations for future increases.

General Motors jumped $1.72, or 4.8 percent, to $37.24 for one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 following news that France's PSA Group, maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars, is exploring a deal to buy Opel, GM's money-losing European business.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 27 cents to settle at $53.20 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 38 cents to $55.97 a gallon in London.

Natural gas fell 4 cents to $2.91 per 1,000 cubic feet, heating oil rose a penny to $1.64 per gallon, and wholesale gasoline was close to flat at $1.55 a gallon.

Gold fell 40 cents to settle at $1,225.40 per ounce, silver rose 7 cents to $17.89 an ounce, and copper fell 5 cents to $2.74 a pound.

The dollar rose to 114.22 Japanese yen from 113.62 late Monday. The euro dipped to $1.0572 from $1.0600, and the British pound fell to $1.2465 from $1.2529.