LONDON – Wall Street's main indexes rose in choppy trading on Tuesday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading gains as inflation worries receded and US bond yields eased for the fourth straight day.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq kicked off the week about 1 percent higher after Federal Reserve officials maintained that ultra-easy monetary policy will remain, allaying worries that higher prices may force the central bank to scale back its support.

Yields on 10-year Treasury bond slipped to a fresh two-week low on Tuesday.

Among S&P sectors, tech, consumer discretionary and financials ticked higher, while energy and utilities dropped about 1 percent.

At 10:20 am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 22.20 points, or 0.06 percent, to 34,416.18, the S&P 500 gained 2.92 points, or 0.07 percent, to 4,199.97 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 29.20 points, or 0.21 percent, to 13,690.37.

Reassurances from Federal Reserve kept the dollar at four-and-a-half-month lows.

Ned Rumpeltin, European head of currency strategy at TD Securities, said markets were beginning to head for the traditional summer lull, with grinding shifts in the dollar, yuan and euro a focus.

"This is more of a reflection of dollar weakness, rather than other currencies outperforming on their own," Rumpeltin said.

"You see risk appetite remain quite firm, with US futures markets running back towards their recent highs."

The European Central Bank's chief economist, Philip Lane, speaks at 1400 GMT, his comments scrutinized for any concerns about the level of the euro or for hints on tapering.

The mood in Europe was underpinned by the German leading indicator IFO rising to its best level in two years as the accelerating roll-out of vaccines and first steps to reopening the economy boosted optimism, ING bank said in a note.

A multibillion-euro takeover deal combining two of Germany's biggest property developers was a focus. Vonovia slipped 2 percent on news of its 18 billion-euro takeover of rival developer Deutsche Wohnen, whose shares surged over 15 percent.

The STOXX index of leading European shares gained 0.4 percent to 446.83 points after hitting a record high of 447.15.

Next data point

James Bullard, president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, put to rest tapering worries for the time being, saying on Monday that while still in the pandemic, it was not the time to talk more about changing the parameters of monetary policy.

"The US personal consumption data on Friday is going to be the first major test about whether the Fed is going to see inflation as transitory," said Giles Coghlan, chief currency analyst at HYCM.

Reassurance on inflation and Bitcoin's steadier footing after recent big losses helped to push Wall Street's VIX "fear gauge" to below 20, near its long-term average.

Digital currencies bounced back on Monday following last week's crypto rout, regaining ground lost during a weekend selloff.

After shedding 13 percent on Sunday, Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, was last down 4 percent at approximately US$37,268.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies of major trading partners, edged down to 89.640.

The European single currency was up 0.33 percent on the day at US$1.2255, having gained 1.7 percent in a month.

US crude eased 0.38 percent to US$65.8 a barrel. Brent crude fell 0.2 percent to US$68.30 per barrel.

Spot gold traded at US$1,882 per ounce, little changed.

In Asia, the region's main regional equity gauges climbed, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 1.5 percent at a two-week high.