US stocks rose on Thursday, staying upbeat ahead of a second day of closely tracked testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Techs took the lead again with the Nasdaq Composite gaining as much as 1.3%, while the S&P 500 added 0.9%, touching record highs during the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5%.
On Thursday, this time before the Senate Banking Committee, the Fed Chair reiterated the central bank's intentions on rate cuts, provided inflation data continues to show continued cooling. On the economic data front Thursday, jobless claims released came in unchanged at 217,000 for the week ending March 2. Continuing claims registered just above 1.9 million, about 8,000 higher from its prior print. The crucial non-farms payroll report is due for release Friday morning.