Wall St. ends sharply higher after Fed comments

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve suggested a less aggressive timeline for raising interest rates even as it opened the door for the first hike in almost a decade.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 222.14 points, or 1.24 percent, to 18,071.22, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 24.96 points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,099.24 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 45.39 points, or 0.92 percent, to 4,982.83.

(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Nick Zieminski)