Dow closes at record high

New York - The Dow on Wednesday closed at a record high after the US Federal Reserve stuck to a plan to begin raising near-zero interest rates only in 2015.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 24.88 points (0.15%) to 17 156.85, breaking the prior record by about 18 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.59 (0.13%) at 2 001.57, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 9.43 (0.21%) to 4 562.19.

The Dow bolted as high as 17 221.11 soon after a Fed statement at 18:00 GMT did not change the language the central bank has been using to signal its rate plans, saying any increase will happen only a "considerable time" after the October end to its bond-buying stimulus programme.

Analysts had been watching to see if the Fed would move up its expectations for the timing of a rate hike.

US equities gave back some of their gains in the last half hour of trade.

The Dow was also lifted by a call from activist investor Trian Partners to break up chemical and agricultural seed company DuPont into two companies. DuPont finished 5.2% higher, by far the biggest gain in the 30-stock blue-chip index.

Package delivery giant FedEx gained 3.3% as fiscal first-quarter earnings of $2.10 per share bested analyst expectations by 14 cents.

United States Steel shot up 10.1% after announcing that it was shelving plans for a pair of costly plant expansions in the US that would have cost some $800m. The company also said its Canadian subsidiary had applied for relief from creditors.

Rackspace Hosting, which provides cloud-computing services, sank 17.7% after announcing that it would remain independent and not seek to sell itself. The company also ruled out a share buyback, concluding that it should "maintain flexibility" to ensure it makes sufficient investments to grow.

Budget-store chain Family Dollar finished 0.1% lower after it urged shareholders to reject an unsolicited takeover bid from Dollar General, calling the offer "illusory" because it cannot be executed because of antitrust concerns. Family Dollar urged shareholders to approve a competing bid from Dollar Tree.

Dollar General fell 0.4%, while Dollar Tree rose 0.8%.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.60% from 2.59% onTuesday, while the 30-year advanced to 3.36% from 3.35%.