Red Hat Inc., the world's largest seller of Linux software, said Wednesday after the markets closed that its first quarter profit rose 8% from last year, as revenue increased 15% amid strong consumer demand. The company's quarterly earnings per share, excluding items, also came in above analysts' expectations as did its quarterly revenue.

Outgoing Bank of England Governor Mervyn King was outvoted in his final policy meeting, as most policymakers overturned his call for additional stimulus citing sustained economic recovery, the minutes of the session held on June 5 and 6 showed Wednesday. As seen in the past few months, King, Paul Fisher and David Miles sought an increase in quantitative easing by GBP 25 billion.

Providing a potential boost to comprehensive immigration reform, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the immigration bill currently being debated in the Senate would result in a notable reduction to the federal budget deficit.

After moving mostly higher over the course of the two previous sessions, stocks pulled back sharply during trading on Wednesday. A negative reaction to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement weighed on the markets in afternoon trading. The major averages saw some volatility following the announcement from the Fed, closing firmly in the red.