Stocks are higher (SPY, DJI, IXIC, TLT, USD, TLO)

Stocks opened higher on Wednesday morning ahead of Fed chair Janet Yellen's semi-annual testimony on Capitol Hill. 

Near 9:39 a.m. ET, the Dow was up 60 points, the S&P 500 was up 11 points, and the Nasdaq was up 35 points. 

We saw some pretty intense selling in recent days as stocks had the worst two-day sell-off since August on Friday and Monday, and then seesawed for much of Tuesday.

On Wednesday, banking stocks in Europe were rebounding sharply, with Deutsche Bank  shares up by as much as 15% in midday trading. Earlier in the week, the shares fell as concern about the bank's ability to meet its credit obligations grew. CEO John Cryan said the bank was "rock-solid" afterwards.

Crude oil prices fell, after a brutal sell-off on Tuesday that took futures to the lowest levels in about three weeks. West Texas Intermediate crude futures in New York fell almost 2% to as low as $27.39 early Wednesday.

The focus today is Fed chair Janet Yellen, who will begin her semi-annual testimony before Congress. She'll deliver prepared remarks (which are already out) to the House Committee on Financial Services before taking questions. 

In sum, the Fed remains data dependent, is watching financial markets closely, and has not ruled out the possibility of a rate cut if economic growth disappoints. 

Other than that, it's rather quiet on the data calendar today. Weekly crude oil inventories will cross at 10:30 a.m. ET, and the monthly budget statement at 2 p.m.  

More to come ...

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