US STOCKS-Wall Street closes higher as Fed's Powell soothes inflation fears

* Dow Jones hits record high, financials at all-time high
* Tesla up as Ark Invest buys $171 mln more shares
* GameStop soars in late trade; NYSE halts

(Updates to close, adds comment)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Shares on Wall Street ended
higher on Wednesday, as a selloff in technology-related stocks
eased and a rotation into cyclical shares continued after
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments calmed inflation
worries.
The Nasdaq index, which traded as much as 1.3% lower earlier
in the session, regained its footing by early afternoon and
closed higher. The Dow hit a record high earlier in the session.
GameStop Corp GME.N stock, which was at the center of
volatile moves in late January by shares talked about on a
Reddit forum, rose sharply in late trading. Volume was more than
two times the 10-day moving average, and shares were halted by
the New York Stock Exchange. AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC.N
also jumped.
Powell told lawmakers on Wednesday it may take more than
three years to reach the central bank's inflation goals, a sign
the Fed plans to look beyond any post-pandemic spike in prices
and leave interest rates unchanged for a long time to come.
"What's driving the stock market is the fiscal stimulus, the
dovish Fed, the real strong, strong earnings that we're seeing,
as well as the fact that we're going to have a third vaccine,"
said Richard Saperstein, chief investment officer at Treasury
Partners.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday
Johnson & Johnson's JNJ.N one-dose COVID-19 vaccine appeared
safe and effective in trials, paving the way for its approval
for emergency use as soon as this week.
Johnson & Johnson rose following the news.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
424.51 points, or 1.35%, to 31,961.86, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
43.98 points, or 1.13%, to 3,925.35 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 132.77 points, or 0.99%, to 13,597.97.
All three main indexes were on track to post strong monthly
gains, with the Dow and the S&P 500 set for their best month
since November.
Investors have focused on rising U.S. yields and their
potential impact on growth stocks. Saperstein said higher yields
could pressure stocks but would not derail the upward trend.
"I don't believe that the 10-year yield going from 1% to
1.5% is going to alter the calculus of owning large technology
stocks," said Saperstein.
Value-oriented stocks have enjoyed a bit of a bounce
recently, and the S&P 500 Value index .IVX rose for a fourth
straight day.
The S&P 500 financial sector .SPSY hit an all-time peak,
while other cyclical stocks including industrials .SPLRCI ,
energy .SPNY and materials .SPLRCM also rose.
The S&P 500 Growth index .IGX , which includes most of the
high-flying technology-related stocks, has come under pressure
in the last few days due to valuation concerns, elevated
Treasury yields and an investment shift into more
economy-sensitive parts of the market.
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and Apple
Inc AAPL.O were down, while Facebook FB.O , Netflix Inc
NFLX.O and Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O reversed earlier declines.
Growth-oriented stocks are particularly sensitive to rising
yields as their value rests heavily on future earnings, which
are discounted more deeply when bond returns go up.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O gained after star investor Cathie Wood's
Ark Invest fund bought a further $171 million worth of the
company's shares in the wake of a sharp fall in the electric-car
maker's stock. Lowe's Cos Inc LOW.N slid as it stuck by its 2021 outlook
of a $4 billion to $8 billion drop in revenue, even after
reporting blow-out fourth quarter results.