By Christiana Sciaudone
Investing.com -- Stocks greeted Jerome Powell's congressional testimony warmly, breaking higher after the Federal Reserve Chair reiterated his belief that the current inflation pressures will ease as the recovery continues.
Powell said he had a "level of confidence" that prices will eventually come down and noted that a 5% inflation environment wouldn't be acceptable. He urged patience. Powell's comments came on the heels of others from the Fed's John Williams and Loretta Mester on what was a day of heavy Fedspeak.
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT). hit a $2 trillion valuation for the first time, riding the wave of stocks higher after Powell's comments.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was in the spotlight after the EU launched a formal antitrust investigation into the company's core digital ad business.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) (NASDAQ:NVDA) rose after the chipmaker made further efforts to deter cryptocurrency miners from purchasing its chips to avoid the boom and bust demand cycle seen a few years ago when a sharp turn lower in cryptocurrency mining activity resulted in a chip supply overhang.
Bitcoin had a heck of a day, falling below the $30,000 for the first time since January, but later rebounding back above that mark.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:
1. More Fed speak
After Jerome Powell's relatively uneventful congressional testimony today, regional governors continue the conversation on Wednesday. Michelle Bowman, Raphael Bostic and Eric Rosengren are all slated to speak at events throughout the day.
2. New home sales
While sales of previously owned homes fell for a fourth straight month, new home sales for May should show a gain from April's 863,000. Consensus is calling for a 1.4% increase, and a total of 875,000 when the number hits at 10:00 AM ET (1400 GMT).
3. Crypto crazy
Keep an eye on everybody's favorite volatile cryptocurrency. Bitcoin dropped below $30,000 earlier today for the first time since January, giving back its gains for the year and erasing more than half of its value since April's high of almost $65,000. Ongoing concerns about China cracking down on cryptos was blamed for the latest dip.