Wall Street Today | Elon Musk says SpaceX will hopefully launch first Starship orbital flight in May

Bonds tumbled Tuesday after a slide in Treasuries sparked by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's more hawkish tone, while stocks appeared to take succor from his determination to quell high inflation.

In the stock market, Australia rose and futures pointed to steady starts for Japan and Hong Kong. U.S. contracts fluctuated after Wall Street shares wobbled in the wake of Powell's comments before closing little changed.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank is prepared to raise interest rates by a half percentage-point at its next meeting if needed, deploying a more aggressive tone toward curbing inflation than he used just a few days earlier.

Policy makers raised the benchmark lending rate by a quarter point at their meeting last week -- ending two years of near-zero borrowing costs -- and signaled six more hikes of that magnitude this year, based on the median projection. Powell indicated that half-point hikes may be on the table when policy makers next gather May 3-4 and at subsequent sessions.

In addition to frustrating Apple customers, the problems prevented corporate employees from working from home and kept retail workers from completing tasks, according to staff members who asked not to be identified. The outage hindered product repairs, swaps and item pickups, and limited corporate workers' ability to communicate and access internal websites.

The business, which GM is calling a start-up within the automaker, will focus on vehicles and potentially brands that are currently not available in the Chinese market, according to GM President Mark Reuss.

But with lingering uncertainties around inflation, a war overseas and clogged supply chains, Nike is holding off giving its outlook for the coming year until it reports fiscal fourth quarter results.

Oil prices are racing higher again and are expected to see more sharp spikes and sudden dips as the world deals with potential supply shortages.

For consumers, that means a longer period of expensive gasoline — with prices at the pump staying above $4 per gallon. For the economy, that means more inflation. Besides the strain on consumers, there will be higher costs across the board for any business relying on petroleum — from airlines and truckers to chemical companies and plastics producers.

Buffett's company will acquire all outstanding Alleghany shares for $848.02 each in cash. The transaction represents a 29% premium to the New York-based insurer's average stock price over the last 30 days, and a 16% premium to its 52-week high closing price, the firms said in a statement Monday.

Elon Musk on Monday gave an update on the timeline for SpaceX's first orbital launch of the company's next-generation Starship rocket.

"We'll have 39 flightworthy engines built by next month, then another month to integrate, so hopefully May for orbital flight test," Musk tweeted in response to CNBC.