US STOCKS-S&P 500 ends at record high after Fed projects stronger economy

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* McDonald's rises as DB raises rating, price target
* Amazon buoys S&P 500
* Industrials, consumer discretionary lead among sectors
* Indexes: Dow +0.58%, S&P 500 +0.29%, Nasdaq +0.40%

(Adds market details after close)
By Noel Randewich
March 17 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial
Average closed at record highs on Wednesday after the Fed
predicted a fast economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic
and said it would maintain its interest rate at close to zero.
In its statement following its two-day policy meeting, the
Federal Reserve projected a rapid jump in U.S. economic growth
and inflation this year as the COVID-19 crisis winds down, and
repeated its pledge to keep its target interest rate near zero
for years to come.
Wall Street extended gains after Fed Chair Jerome Powell
said during a news conference that it is too early to discuss
tapering-off measures to support the struggling economy.
"The Fed statement today was more optimistic than some
expected, they raised their outlook for both economic growth and
the labor market. The market's view of the statement is that it
was fairly optimistic," said David Carter, chief investment
officer at Lenox Wealth Advisors in New York.
A $1.9 trillion spending stimulus and the rollout of
vaccines have fueled a rotation into so-called value stocks that
are viewed as likely to outperform as the economy recovers from
the coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time, worries that the stimulus could overheat
the economy and lead to higher inflation rates have triggered a
strong rise in long-duration Treasury yields and made technology
and other growth stocks less attractive.
Following the Fed's statement, the yield on 10-year
Treasuries US10YT=RR ticked lower to 1.6374%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.58% to end at
33,015.37 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.29% to
3,974.12.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC climbed 0.4% to 13,525.20.
The Nasdaq remains down about 4% from its Feb. 12 record-high
close.
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O rose 1.4% and Tesla Inc TSLA.O
added 3.7%, with the two companies giving the greatest lift to
the S&P 500.
Six out of 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, with industrials
.SPLRCI and consumer discretionary .SPNY the strongest
performers and both up over 1%.
Fast-food retailer McDonald's Corp MCD.N gained 1.9% after
Deutsche Bank raised its target price on the stock and also
upgraded its recommendation to "buy" from "hold."
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.33-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.46-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 44 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 124 new highs and 18 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.9 billion shares, compared
with the 14.2 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days.

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