Stocks rose on Wednesday as tech shares led the way and as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, in a move that was widely expected by traders.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 161.46 points to approach the closing bell at 26,540.74.
The S&P 500 regained 40.16 points, or 1.3%, to 3,258.60.
The NASDAQ spiked 140.85 points, or 1.4%, to 10,542.94.
Facebook and Amazon each rose more than 1% along with Apple and Amazon. Those gains came as each company's CEO testified in front of U.S. lawmakers following a yearlong probe into their anti-competitive practices. Investors looked for insights on how Big Tech is handling antitrust challenges from regulators with the authority to break them up.
Shares of Big Tech are among the best performers this year. Facebook and Alphabet are both up more than 12% year to date entering Wednesday's session. Amazon has skyrocketed 62.4% over that time and Apple is up 27%.
The busiest week of the earnings season continued, with General Electric and Boeing releasing their latest quarterly figures. GE reported a stronger-than-forecast revenue along with a wider-than-expected loss. Shares of the industrial giant fell 4.4%. Boeing also posted a wider-than-expected loss and its stock slid 3%.
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices popped more than 12% after the chipmaker posted on Tuesday better-than-expected quarterly earnings and issued upbeat guidance for the year.
Starbucks swung to a loss during its fiscal third quarter, but the world's largest coffee chain raised its forecast for the current quarter, sending shares up more than 3%.
In a statement, the Fed's policymaking committee said U.S. economic activity and employment "have picked up somewhat in recent months but remain well below their levels at the beginning of the year."
The committee added that "weaker demand and significantly lower oil prices are holding down consumer price inflation. Overall financial conditions have improved in recent months, in part reflecting policy measures to support the economy and the flow of credit to U.S. households and businesses."
The Fed slashed the overnight U.S. rate to a range of 0%-0.25% earlier this year in an effort to support the economy and maintain stable market conditions. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters the Fed will maintain its historic stimulus measures until they are confident the economy has "weathered" the crisis.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were slightly higher, lowering yields to 0.57% from Tuesday's 0.58%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recaptured 26 cents to $41.30 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices improved $17.40 to $1,962 U.S. an ounce.