The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 logged modest gains Wednesday, while the Nasdaq Composite rang up its second consecutive loss, after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told a House Financial Services Committee that inflation will moderate and that he believes that policy makers can combat rising pricing pressures if they run even hotter. The Dow
DJIA,
+0.13%
closed 0.1% higher at around 34,933, the S&P 500 index
SPX,
+0.12%
advanced 0.1% at about 4,374, pulling back after hitting an intraday high Wednesday at 4,393.68; the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
-0.22%
declined 0.2% at around 14,645, marking its second decline in a row. The small-capitalization Russell 2000 index
RUT,
-1.62%
suffered another sharp drop, sinking more than 3% over the past two sessions. In corporate news, shares of Bank of America Corp.
BAC,
-2.46%
dropped after the moneycenter bank reported a second-quarter profit that rose above expectations but revenue fell short, weighed by misses in the consumer banking and global markets businesses. BlackRock Inc.
BLK,
-2.97%
shares fell after the money manager reported second-quarter profit and revenue that rose above expectations, as assets under management increased 30% and net inflows topped $80 billion. Meanwhile, the Fed's latest deep dive on the economy confirmed the obvious: The U.S. is growing faster, but the recovery is being restrained by widespread shortages of labor and supplies.The findings from the central bank's so-called Beige Book, which largely mirrored the more timely remarks by Powell during his appearance in Congress on Wednesday. The moves in stocks also came as the 10-year benchmark yield skidded lower and prices for government debt rose. The 10-year note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.343%
was at around 1.34% from aroun 1.41% on Tuesday. Treasury yields fall as prices climb.