With the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement showing no major changes, stocks continue to see significant strength in mid-afternoon trading on Wednesday. The major averages are hovering firmly in positive territory after moving sharply higher in early trading.
The rally seen earlier in the session was largely due to a positive reaction to better than expected quarterly results from tech giant Apple (AAPL). Apple, the world's largest publicly-traded company by market capitalization, has risen by 9 percent on the news.
Stocks have continued to perform well following the Fed's monetary policy announcement, which showed that the central bank left interest rates unchanged at near-zero levels. The statement did not provide any new clues about the outlook for further quantitative easing.
Healthcare provider stocks continue to see considerable strength in mid-day trading, with the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Provider Index up by 2.9 percent. Kindred Healthcare (KND) has helped to lead the healthcare provider sector higher, surging up by 22.1 percent.
Significant strength is also visible among chemical stocks, as reflected by the 2.8 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones Chemicals Index. FMC Corp. (FMC) is turning in one of the sector's best performances after declaring a 2-for-1 stock split and a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share.
Computer hardware, railroad, gold and semiconductor stocks are also posting strong gains, with Apple leading the hardware sector to the upside.
While the major averages have all moved higher on the day, the Nasdaq is outperforming its counterparts by a wide margin. The Nasdaq is up 62.61 points or 2.1 percent at 3,024.21, the S&P 500 is up 16.01 points or 1.2 percent at 1,387.98 and the Dow is up 63.69 points or 0.5 percent at 13,064.95.
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Market Analysis
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.