U.S. stocks ended the day higher and Treasury yields fell Thursday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sidestepped investor concerns over the outlook for rates at an event.

After the salvo of central bank decisions last week, traders are increasingly concerned that rising oil prices risk fanning inflation, which will make it difficult for policymakers to reduce rates anytime soon.

Bond traders are bracing for Treasury yields to keep pushing higher after the Fed signaled it's likely to hold interest rates at lofty levels well into next year.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said today's high mortgage rates are dissuading some would-be sellers from putting their homes on the market, further limiting lending opportunities in an environment already constrained by low inventory

Yields on longer-dated debt are so high that even if the Fed continues hiking for longer investors still feel they'll be compensated.

The Federal Reserve Board governors say they're worried about the added cost of the new requirement for non-systemically important banks as well as the implications for regulatory tailoring.

Among the winners: Hedge funds betting that bond yields will rise anew. It's clear that Jackson Hole's hawkish message has been received loud and clear.

Some are pondering the implications of whether there has been an increase in the neutral rate, also known as R*, the theoretical level at which rates neither stimulate nor restrict an economy.

Traders also weighed a US government report saying that job growth in the year through March will probably be revised down by 306,000 — a smaller adjustment than some economists expected.

Inflation pressures are easing, which could give policymakers room to keep interest rates at or near current levels for the time being.