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From Briefing.com: 4:35 pm : Neither the FOMC's latest policy directive nor a key Treasury auction delivered any negative surprises, so this session's buying effort generally went without being thwarted. Though the major indices did fall from session highs in the final minutes of the session, stocks still finished broadly higher.

The FOMC left its target range for the fed funds rate unchanged at 0.00% to 0.25% and will keep the interest rate at exceptionally low levels for an extended period. That was expected, though. In turn, participants turned their focus to the Fed's accompanying statement, which indicated that the FOMC expects inflation to remain subdued for some time and economic activity is likely to remain weak for some time. The FOMC did say sluggish income growth will constrain household spending, though members hold the belief that economic activity is leveling out.

The FOMC also said that it anticipates the full amount of Treasury securities will be purchased by the end of October. Prior to the FOMC decision, the pace of purchases had suggested the Fed would likely be done with its purchases in September.

A $23 billion auction of 10-year Treasury Notes today produced a high yield of roughly 3.73%, which is in step with the current yield on the benchmark Note. The auction also produced a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.49, which is right around the average for the previous 10-year Note auctions this year.

The announcements had little overall impact on trading, but didn't dissuade buying efforts, either. In turn, buyers were able to cut into losses incurred in the past two down sessions.

Consumer staples stocks were the only sector to finish lower. They suffered a fractional loss. Conversely, financials posted the best gain by climbing 2.0%. They still have a way to go before negating their 3.5% loss Tuesday, though.

Large-cap tech stocks garnered support following better-than-expected earnings and strong guidance from both Applied Materials (AMAT 13.66, +0.44) and Cree (CREE 34.04, +2.21). Shares of CREE have been given an added boost by Bank of America Merrill Lynch's decision to upgrade the stock. Their strength helped the Nasdaq outperform its counterparts.DJ30 +120.16 NASDAQ +28.99 NQ100 +1.6% R2K +1.8% SP400 +1.3% SP500 +11.46 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1907/2.18 bln/782 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2237/1.23 bln/813

09:18 am Applied Materials (AMAT)

Applied Materials (AMAT 13.22) delivered a better-than-expected report for its fiscal third quarter and issued upside guidance for the current quarter.

Applied Materials reported breakeven fiscal third quarter earnings, $0.08 better than the First Call consensus that expected a loss of $0.08 per share.

Revenues dropped 38.7% year-over-year to $1.13 billion, but managed to top the $958.4 million consensus.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said its Q3 gross margin was 28.7%, easily topping the 22.4% consensus. New orders for the quarter totaled $1.07 billion.

On its conference call, Applied Materials said it expects fiscal fourth quarter revenue growth of 10-20%, which equates to approximately $1.24 billion to $1.36 billion, well ahead of the current First Call consensus of $1.067 billion. Applied Materials said it expects Q4 earnings of breakeven to $0.04 per share; the consensus currently expects a loss of $0.04.

Shares of AMAT are 30.5% higher year-to-date.