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STORY: U.S. stocks ended higher after a choppy trading session on Tuesday, as investors digested comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell about how long the central bank may need to tame inflation.

The Dow closed up more than three-quarters of a percent, the S&P jumped 1.3% and the Nasdaq climbed 1.9%.

While Powell said the process of easing price pressures will “take a bit of time”, he also said 2023 should be a year of (quote) "significant declines in inflation."

His comments boosted investor hopes for less aggressive monetary policy - hopes that were stymied after a strong U.S. jobs report last Friday.

Wall Street's main indexes fluctuated wildly during and after Powell's remarks, and while they ultimately ended higher, Mike Vogelzang, chief investment officer at CAPTRUST, called the market’s reaction (quote) “schizophrenic”.

“It’s a very odd time. And I think it’s a really good indication of a market not being very healthy. [FLASH] That’s what’s interesting to us: this over-obsession with one person and every time he says something the market is on knife’s edge. To us that’s not a healthy market. That’s a market that’s looking for a base.”

Among individual movers, Microsoft shares rose as it unveiled an integration of ChatGPT, a chatbot from OpenAI, into its products.

Boeing also rose after the U.S. plane maker confirmed it expects to cut about 2,000 white-collar jobs.

And Bed Bath & Beyond plunged almost 49% as the home-goods retailer seeks to raise $1 billion in a last-ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy.