U.S stocks rallied for a second day on Wednesday following the half a point drop in interest rates issued by the Federal Reserve yesterday.

Shares of mortgage finance companies, drug makers and manufacturers led the broad-based advance after the Fed cut the benchmark interest rate to 4.75

AT&T Inc. owner of the largest mobile phone network in the U.S, helped push the Down Jones Industrial up 76.2 points to 13,815.6 as it said it sold more Apple iPhones than expected.

Shares of Boeing Co, a company that benefits from lower borrowing costs, gained 1.5 percent to while Merck & Co. rose 2 percent to $51.56 and ranked among the biggest advancers in both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500.

Overall, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 9.25 points, or 0.61 percent, at 1,529.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 14.82 points, or 0.56 percent, to close at 2,666.48.

Volume hit nearly 1.7 billion shares at the New York Stock Exchange, with advancing stocks ahead of decliners 2 to 1. The tech heavy Nasdaq exchanged more than 2.2 billion shares, and advancing issues overtook those declining, also by a 2-to-1 count.

Ahead of the opening, the Labor Department reported a 0.1 percent drop in consumer prices for August, along with a 0.2 percent rise in the core consumer price index.

The dollar was higher against most major currencies from lows hit the day before, trading at 115.98 yen, down from 116.07 yen in late trade Tuesday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, oil topped $82 a barrel, close to the prior day's intraday record of $82.38. In more recent trade, crude futures were up 54 cents at $82.05, ahead of Tuesday's record close of $81.51.