The Fed said on Wednesday it could begin reducing its monthly asset purchases by as soon as November, which the markets had largely expected.

Also lifting sentiment: concerns eased about a potential default by property developer China Evergrande, even though it has a key interest payment due Thursday.

Fiduciary Trust Chief Investment Officer Hans Olsen doesn't see Evergrande as a systemic problem for the global markets.

"The reality is that the Chinese financial system is not as integrated with the rest of the world as the rest of the world is integrated with China."

Investors also shrugged off negative data showing sluggish growth in business activity and a rise in jobless claims.

The Dow finished one-and-a-half percent higher. The S&P added 1.2% as it broke back above a key technical level. And the Nasdaq gained 1%.

Helping drive the Dow and S&P higher: Salesforce.com, rising over 7%. With the shift to hybrid work fueling demand for its cloud-based software, the IT services provider raised its revenue forecast for the full year.

Shares of Carnival rose nearly 5%. The world's largest cruise operator said it expects to return over half of its total fleet capacity to operations by the end of October.