Stocks rose higher on Tuesday as market participants further digest Federal Reserve Chair Powell's more aggressive stance towards combating inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 250 points, while the S&P 500 added over 1% and the Nasdaq climbed nearly 2% higher.

Wall Street is coming off a choppy session on Monday following Powell's remarks that "inflation is much too high" and my prompt the central bank to raise rates by more than 25 basis points per policy meeting. The comments came less than a week after policymakers raised rates for the first time since 2018.

Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +1.13% or +50.43 points to 4,511.61

Dow Jones Industrial Averages (DIA  ): +0.74% or +254.47 points to 34,807.46

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +1.95% or +270.36 points to 14,108.82

Pfizer to supply 4 million COVID antiviral treatments to poorer nations through UNICEF:

Pfizer (PFE  ) announced Tuesday it will supply up to 4 million course of its COVID antiviral pills, Paxlovid, to dozens of poorer nations under an agreement with the United Nations Children's Fund, better known as UNICEF.

The pharmaceutical giant expects to start supply the oral treatment to UNICEF starting next month and will continue to deliver through the end of the year, according to the company. Low-income nations will receive the pills at a not-for-profit prices, while upper-middle -income nations will pay more under a tiered pricing system, according to Pfizer.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pfizer's shares fell over 2% following the announcement.

Nike shares climb higher on improving Q3 China sales:

Nike (NKE  ) shares were higher on Tuesday after the retailer showed improving sales in China in its third quarter earnings report. China is currently the Dow component's most profitable market.

For the three-month period ended Feb. 28, Nike reported sales in China declined by 8% year-over-year, better than the 12% drop anticipated by consensus economists. The report also marked improvement from the 24% decline Nike posted in the previous quarter.

For its current fiscal year, Nike reiterated its expectations for sales to grow mid-single-digits from the prior 12-month period, matching analysts' expectations for revenue to increase by 5.3%.

Here's how benchmarks started trading after market open:

S&P 500 Index: +0.34% or +15.12 points to 4,476.30

Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.56% or +194.36 points to 34,747.35

Nasdaq Composite Index: +0.16% or +22.26 points to 13,860.72