Wall Street closes higher with Fed chief's remarks

NEW YORK (AA)

Wall Street closed higher Tuesday after dovish remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

The Dow Jones rose 23 points to end the day at 17,828 points. The S&P 500 was up 5 points to close at 2,088, while the Nasdaq gained 6 points to finish the day at 4,843.

During her semiannual testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Yellen said the bank will take a careful approach to raising interest rates amid risks to the U.S. economy and a global slowdown.

The comments raised expectations that the Fed could forego a rate hike at its July meeting and may wait until September to raise interest rates.

Meanwhile, oil prices slipped 0.3 percent at the market closing to end a three-day rally Tuesday, after the dollar gained against the British pound, euro, Chinese yuan and Japanese yen.

At the final bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $49.74 per barrel, and international benchmark Brent crude was at $50.45.

The oil market will focus on U.S. weekly crude inventories and the stock market will await the Brexit referendum Thursday.