Stocks rise as Powell signals steadiness, and oil prices continue to march higher.

Stocks in the U.S. jumped on Wednesday after the chair of the Federal Reserve said central bankers “will proceed carefully” with plans to raise interest rates amid high inflation and uncertainty created by the war in Ukraine.

The S&P 500 gained 1.9 percent, recovering two days of losses.

Oil and European natural gas prices continued their rapid advance. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 7.6 percent, to $112.93 a barrel. In early December, it was trading for about $65 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge followed widely in the United States, rose 7 percent, to about $110.60 a barrel.

Investors have been weighing the prospect that Fed policymakers will raise interest rates at their meeting later this month despite the conflict in Ukraine. Raising rates is intended to slow inflation by making borrowing more expensive, reducing demand. But that could also slow the economy during a period of uncertainty, with the war already roiling markets and disrupting supply chains.

Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, told the House Committee on Financial Services on Wednesday that “we are going to avoid adding uncertainty to what is already an extraordinarily challenging and uncertain moment” and that he thought a quarter-point interest rate increase would be appropriate at the central bank meeting that concludes on March 16. Some investors have been fearing a rate increase of half a percentage point.

Yields on 10-year Treasurys, a benchmark for borrowing costs across the economy, rose about 16 basis points, or 0.16 percentage points, to about 1.89 percent.

Also on Wednesday, OPEC and other oil producers, including Russia, declined to raise output above what it had agreed to in July, rubber-stamping a 400,000-barrel-a-day increase for April. That increase was not considered sufficient to cool down prices, and the announcement came after a release of emergency reserves on Tuesday by countries belonging to the International Energy Agency, including the United States, also failed to make a mark on prices.

European natural gas futures spiked nearly 60 percent at one point before easing to under 170 euros a megawatt-hour, a rise of almost 40 percent. The European natural gas market is especially volatile because Russia is a major supplier, providing more than one-third of the European Union’s gas.

The sharp jump in energy prices did not appear to be tied to crimped supplies from Russia — data from Ukraine’s national gas transmission operator showed normal operations, for example — but concerns among market participants that contracts with Russian suppliers of gas and oil could prompt penalties under Western sanctions, despite efforts shield energy business from the penalties.

Stocks in Asia were broadly lower, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropping 1.8 percent. Sentiment was more mixed in Europe. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.9 percent.

The Russian stock market was closed on Wednesday for the third consecutive day. And Sberbank Europe, the European unit of Russia’s largest retail bank, was ordered shut by the European Central Bank, which had warned two days ago that the company was facing collapse.

A parade of Western countries announced they were pulling out of Russia or shutting down services or plants there, including Airbus and Ford Motor. Other manufacturers, like Volkswagen and BMW, have been unable to get needed parts from Ukraine, forcing the temporary shutdown of European plants.