Wall Street extends gains following Fed minutes

By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks jumped on Wednesday, with the three major indexes hitting session highs, after minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting showed a more supportive central bank than previously expected. The Dow and the Nasdaq rose more than 1 percent with internet and biotech stocks leading the gains. Fed policymakers were unanimous in wanting to ditch the thresholds they had been using to telegraph a policy tightening, according to minutes of a meeting last month that shed little new light on what might prompt an eventual interest-rate rise. "People are taking solace in the idea that the Fed may be more accommodative than previously thought, for longer than previously thought," said Steve Sosnick, equity-risk manager at Timber Hill/Interactive Brokers Group in Greenwich, Connecticut.