NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks rebounded on Tuesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell talked up the economy in testimony to Congress.

"The initial concern was the Fed would upset the pace of the recovery," Shawn Cruz, senior manager of trader strategy at TD Ameritrade in Chicago told Reuters Tuesday. But the investor takeaway from Tuesday's testimony was that "he's not just going to try and crush inflation and not worry about the other effects that could have on the economy. He's also going to be sort of cognizant of the potential fallout effect."

The Nasdaq Composite, reversed earlier losses of more than one percent, to gain 210.62 points, or 1.42 percent, to 15,153.45.

"More than anything, it's just a reprieve from some pretty extreme selling we've had over the past number of weeks, really since the beginning of the year," Jeff Mills, chief investment officer at Bryn Mawr Trust Wealth Management told CNBC Tuesday.

"I think it's probably premature to call this some sort of a bottom in tech. I think you're just getting at least one day of reprieve given the move in rates," Mills said.

The Standard and Poor's 500 advanced 42.78 points, or 0.92 percent, to close Tuesday at 4,713.07.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 183.15 points, or 0.51 percent, to 36,252.02.

The U.S. dollar was softer Tuesday, with the British pound firming to 1.3635. The euro nudged higher to 1.1368. The Swiss franc rose to 0.9235.

The Canadian dollar was stronger at 1.2571. The Australian and New Zealand dollars edged up to 0.7210 and 0.6783 respectively.

The Japanese yen was slightly lower at 115.28.

On overseas equity markets, the FTSE 100 in London climbed 0.62 percent. The Paris-based CAC 40 was 0.95 percent higher. In Germany, the Dax jumped 1.10 percent.

On Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo led markets lower. The benchmark index dived 256.08 points or 0.90 percent to 28,222.48.

China's Shanghai Composite slid 26.08 points or 0.73 percent to 3,567.44.

The Australian All Ordinaries dropped 55.00 points or 0.71 percent to 7,710.70.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng let go 7.48 points or 0.03 percent to 23,739.06.