Stocks held on to their gains on Wall Street Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled it may begin easing its extraordinary support measures for the economy later this year.

The central bank said it may start raising its benchmark interest rate sometime next year, earlier than it envisioned three months ago.

The S&P 500 rose 1%. Tech companies helped lead the gains, though Facebook fell 4%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite also rose about 1%.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note wobbled up and down after the Fed's announcement, but wound up little changed at 1.31%.