Wall Street advanced strongly as investors responded positively to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's measured opening testimony before Congress in which she reiterated that interest rate increases would be gradual and does not expect rate will have to rise by too much to reach a neutral policy stance - Dow rallied +123-points or +0.57% to a fresh record closing and and the broader S&P500 +0.73% (with all sectors advancing). The NASDAQ outperformed for a third consecutive session with a +1.10% gain to cap its biggest 4-day gain in ~7-months. PayPal rose +% to a record all-time high. NRG Energy Inc surged almost +30% higher after outlining plans to divest up to US$4B in assets (may be somewhat instructive for BHP Billiton given 'activist' investor Elliot Management has been agitating for change for some time at the integrated power company).
