NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks held onto their gains Wednesday afternoon, after the Federal Reserve said it would keep its benchmark rate unchanged after a two-day policy meeting. A modest rebound in Chinese stocks also helped push the market higher.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average was up 99 points, or 0.5 percent, to 17,726 as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 10 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,104 and the Nasdaq composite rose five points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,095.

FED MEETING: As expected, the Federal Reserve's policymakers voted to keep interest rates unchanged at their near-zero levels. In a statement, the Fed said the U.S. economy continues to improve in numerous aspects, setting the stage to possibly raise interest rates later this year. Most investors expect the Fed will raise rates in September or December.

"Yeah, the economy is improving, but they are not really saying that the economy is taking off here," said Tom di Galoma, head of rates trading at ED&F Man Capital. "If the Fed doesn't raise rates in September, I think we're looking at some time mid next year."

The bond market seemed to agree with the idea that the Fed was in no rush to raise rates. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note traded at a yield of 2.27 compared with the nearly 2.30 percent before the Fed statement.

ASIA'S DAY: China's Shanghai Composite Index rebounded 3.4 percent to close at 3,789.17 after flitting between gains and losses for most of the day. Alarm over the sharp fall in Chinese shares has abated somewhat after the Shanghai index steadied following Monday's 8.5 percent dive.

TWITTER SINKS: Twitter dropped $5.18, or 14 percent, to $31.35. While the company's quarterly results exceeded Wall Street's forecasts, newly-appointed CEO Jack Dorsey said its turnaround will take some time. Dorsey said the company isn't satisfied with how fast its audience is growing.

HEALTHY: Gilead Sciences rose $2.75, or 2.5 percent, to $116.86. The company's profits jumped 23 percent from a year ago, helped by its new blockbuster hepatitis C medicine Harvoni. The company also raised its 2015 forecasts.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 81 cents to close at $48.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

CURRENCIES: The euro fell to $1.1021 from $1.1068. The dollar rose to 123.90 Japanese yen from 123.57 yen.

METALS: Precious and industrial metals futures ended mixed. Gold fell $3.60 to $1,092.60 an ounce, silver rose 10 cents to $14.73 an ounce and copper edged up less than a penny to $2.41 a pound.