The major indices posted solid gains for the week to hit the highest level in more than a year. Much of the gains were made after the Fed stayed the course in its policy statement and positive earnings reports from a handful of companies. Some of the week's advance was given up on Friday, however.

Nine of the 10 sectors ended in the green, led by industrials +2.2% and telecom +2.4%. The energy sector was a laggard, shedding 1.1%. Trading volume was on the low side with the exception of Friday, which marked quadruple witching.

There were no surprises in the FOMC statement. The fed funds target rate was left unchanged at a range of 0.00% to 0.25%, with the FOMC continuing to anticipate economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.

Once again Kansas City Fed President Hoenig Dissented against the "extended period" Language, saying it could lead to a buildup of financial imbalance and increase risks to longer-run macroeconomic and financial stability.

Despite the statement offering no real surprises stocks showed a positive reaction to the announcement on Tuesday.

Chairman Bernanke was also in the news after testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, though it proved to be a nonevent for equities.

In corporate news, Boeing (BA) came under pressure after it said Air Berlin canceled $1.7 bln worth of firm orders for the 787 Dreamliner.

Fellow Dow component General Electric (GE) saw buying interest, however. The company announced during a conference that losses in GE Capital are expected to peak in 2010, such that a snap back in earnings will occur... In earnings news, FedEx (FDX) Nike (NKE) and Guess (GES) all benefited from after posting better-than-expected quarterly results.

Economic data had a limited impact on trade this week. February PPI (-0.6% vs -0.2% consensus) was slightly lower than expected, as was CPI (0.0% vs 0.1% consensus). Weekly initial jobless claims met estimates (457k vs 455k consensus).

In commodity trading, oil prices shed 0.8%. OPEC decided to keep its oil output unchanged, as expected.

In overseas news, Greece continued to be in focus as headlines cross the wires regarding how and whether officials of other euro countries want to give Greece aid. This resulted in volatility in the dollar, which gained 1.1% for the week.

Separately, India unexpectedly raised its repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.00% and its reverse repo rate by 25 basis points to 3.5%.