NEW YORK, July 16 (Xinhua) — U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump tempered speculation about potential changes at the Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 231.49 points, or 0.53 percent, to 44,254.78. The S&P 500 gained 19.94 points, or 0.32 percent, to 6,263.70, while the Nasdaq Composite added 52.69 points, or 0.25 percent, to close at 20,730.49.

Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors advanced. Health care led the gains, up 1.22 percent, followed by real estate, which added 1.07 percent. On the other end, energy and communication services were the biggest laggards, falling 0.84 percent and 0.15 percent, respectively.

Markets briefly slipped earlier in the session following a Bloomberg report citing a White House official saying Trump was considering firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. However, in later comments from the Oval Office, Trump stated he was “not planning” to dismiss Powell, despite continuing criticism of the Fed for not cutting rates more aggressively. “No, we’re not planning on doing anything,” he told reporters, but added, “We’re very concerned.”

Adding to investor sentiment was a cooler-than-expected inflation report. The U.S. producer price index (PPI) for June came in flat on a monthly basis and increased 2.3 percent from a year earlier, both below economists’ forecasts.

On the earnings front, results were mixed among major financial firms. Bank of America dipped 0.26 percent after it posted mixed results for the second quarter, beating estimates on earnings and missing on revenue. Morgan Stanley declined 1.27 percent following its second-quarter results, while Goldman Sachs rose 0.9 percent as its trading operations generated 840 million U.S. dollars more in revenue than analysts had expected.

“The economy and markets are generally responding positively to the evolving policy environment,” Goldman Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said. “But as developments rarely unfold in a straight line, we remain very focused on risk management.”

Johnson & Johnson surged 6.19 percent after posting better-than-expected earnings and raising its full-year guidance, making it the top performer on the Dow. “During our first-quarter conference call, we anticipated an impact from tariffs in 2025 to be approximately 400 million U.S. dollars based on the current tariff landscape,” said Johnson & Johnson Chief Financial Officer Joe Wolk, according to a FactSet transcript. “We now anticipate the impact to be approximately 200 million dollars exclusively related to our MedTech business.”

Major technology stocks saw mixed action. Tesla rose 3.5 percent, continuing its recent streak of volatility. Nvidia, Apple and Alphabet posted small gains. Amazon fell 1.4 percent, while Meta Platforms dropped about 1 percent. Microsoft and Broadcom were little changed.