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.