US STOCKS-Wall Street extends gain after Fed says to be patient on rates

U.S. stocks extended their rally on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it would be patient in lifting borrowing costs further this year, reassuring investors worried about a slowing economy. Along with better-than-feared quarterly results from Apple , the Fed's comments helped Wall Street reverse two down days triggered by profit warnings from U.S. bellwethers that signaled a bigger impact from a slowdown in China.

The Fed held interest rates steady, as widely expected. Apple shares jumped 5.8 percent after reporting a sharp growth in services business, easing concerns after the iPhone maker earlier this month cut current-quarter sales forecast.

Boeing Co gained 6.7 percent after the world's largest planemaker forecast full-year profit and cash flow above analysts' estimates amid a boom in air travel and speedier 737 production. Following the Fed's rate announcement, all three main U.S. stock indexes extended gains from earlier in the session.

At 2:03 p.m. in New York (1903 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.51 percent at 24,951.93, while the S&P 500 had gained 1.22 percent to 2,672.26. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.64 percent to 7,143.34. (Additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru Editing by James Dalgleish)