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Stocks on Wall Street rallied after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell suggested interest rates may not have much higher to go.聽

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 600 points, or 2.5%, to 25,366.43, while the broader S&P 500 index rose 2.28% to 2,743.43.

In a speech to the Economic Club of New York, Mr Powell said: "Interest rates are still low by historical standards, and they remain just below the broad range of estimates of the level that would be neutral for the economy - that is, neither speeding up nor slowing down growth."

His remarks were in stark contrast to comments he made in October when he said interest rates were a "long way" from a neutral level.

Those remarks triggered turmoil on Wall Street with the major indices falling into correction territory, which is defined as a fall of 10%.

While markets still expect a rate hike in December, Mr Powell said, "there is no preset policy path".

He said: "We will be paying very close attention to what incoming economic and financial data are telling us. As always, our decisions on monetary policy will be designed to keep the economy on track in light of the changing outlook for jobs and inflation."

The Fed has raised its benchmark short-term rate three times this year to a range of 2% to 2.25%.

US President Donald Trump has openly criticised Mr Powell for his leadership of the Fed, despite selecting him for the job.

Mr Trump blames Mr Powell for the rate hikes that he claims are undermining his economic and trade policies. He told the Washington Post on Tuesday that he is "not even a little bit happy" with the Fed chief.

Mr Powell "gave the market, and presumably President Trump, exactly what he wanted, which was an admission that the previously proposed path of future rate hikes was probably too aggressive and opening to slowing the rate of hikes," Oliver Pursche, vice chairman and chief market strategist at Bruderman Asset Management, told Reuters.