Investing.com– U.S. stocks mostly edged higher Tuesday as testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell didn’t sway investors from bets for the Fed to kick off its first rate cut in September.  

At 13:54 ET (18:54 GMT), rose 10 points, or 0.1%, while rose 0.2%, and added 0.1%. 

Powell says labor market cooling, flags risk of keeping rates too high for too long

In sign that the Federal Reserve continued to believe that its policy measures are slowing the economy,   said the economy was no longer overheated as the job market tightness eased to pre-pandemic levels. 

The fed chief also said that “good data” in the coming months would boost the chances of interest rate, and also flagged the risk of keeping rates too high for too long. The remarks kept investor bets on a September rate cut front and center just ahead of key inflation data this week. 

The inflation data for June, which is due on Thursday, is set offer more cues on the path of inflation. The Fed has repeatedly signaled that it needs more confidence that inflation is easing, before it can begin cutting interest rates.

The showed traders pricing in an over 72% chance for a 25 basis point cut in September, up from last week’s 59%. 

Earnings season to begin with banks

Focus this week will also be on the second quarter earnings season, which is set to begin with results from several major banks at the end of the week. 

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:), Wells Fargo (NYSE:) and Citigroup (NYSE:) are set to report quarterly earnings on Friday.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:) and Delta Air Lines (NYSE:) are also on tap this week. 

Analysts, on average, see S&P 500 companies increasing their aggregate earnings per share by 10.1% in the second quarter, up from an 8.2% increase in the first quarter, according to LSEG I/B/E/S data.

Additionally, the likes of Intel (NASDAQ:) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:) continued to post gains, both rising over 2%, amid growing confidence in all things linked with artificial intelligence. 

Nvidia, Tesla get thumbs up from Wall Street 

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:) rose more than 1% after Keybanc upgraded its price target on the chipmaker to $180 from $1300, citing rising AI demand. 

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:), meanwhile, rose more than 3% as Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating on the stock amid positive signs of the EV maker’s foothold in the global battery electric vehicle market, which stood at 15% in May.

(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)