The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 532.31 points, or 2.21 percent, to 24,633.86. The S&P 500 rose 76.12 points, or 2.66 percent, to 2,939.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index rallied 306.98 points, or 3.57 percent, to 8,914.71.
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at the record-low level of near zero, as the COVID-19 fallout continues to ripple through the country.
"The ongoing public health crisis will weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term, and poses considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term," the Fed said in a statement after concluding a two-day policy meeting, adding the Fed's policy-making committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0-0.25 percent.
Meanwhile, market sentiment was lifted after encouraging news on a clinical trial for U.S. biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences' experimental coronavirus treatment.
On the data front, U.S. economic activity in the first quarter contracted at an annual rate of 4.8 percent, the biggest decline since the Great Recession, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
The decline in first-quarter real gross domestic product was, in part, due to the response to the spread of COVID-19, as governments issued "stay-at-home" orders in March, according to the "advance" estimate released by the department's bureau of economic analysis.
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