On The Fly: Top stock stories for Wednesday

The major averages were holding onto mild gains ahead of the Federal Reserve's rate announcement and held near the pre-announcement levels after the central bank raised short-term interest rates for the third time this year and signaled a similar game plan for next year. In political news, the GOP lost a seat in the Senate after Democrat Doug Jones beat out Republican Roy Moore in Alabama's special election. Later during the day, the Associated Press reported that House and Senate GOP leaders reached an agreement on their tax bill, paving the way for final votes next week. Following that, CNBC said that President Trump said he would sign the version of the bill that includes a 21% corporate tax rate. While the Dow and Nasdaq were able to hold their gains into the close, the S&P dipped and turned negative in the final minutes of trading. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Consumer Price Index rose 0.4% in November compared to the prior month, matching the consensus estimate. The core rate, excluding food and energy, was 0.1% higher, which was below the consensus 0.2% growth estimate. In Fed news, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a point and maintained a median view that points toward three rate hikes being foreseen again in 2018. Speaking in a press conference, Fed chair Janet Yellen said that the Fed's updated projections should not be viewed as estimating the impact of fiscal stimulus, but that some at the Fed had incorporated fiscal stimulus in their individual estimates of growth. Separately, on the matter of bitcoin, Yellen called the cryptocurrency "highly speculative" and said it was not a "stable source of value" nor a form of legal tender. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Finisar (FNSR) surged 23% after Apple (AAPL) awarded the chipmaker $390M from its $1B fund set up to drive advanced manufacturing capabilities... Target (TGT) shares rose 3% after the retail giant agreed to acquire online same-day delivery platform Shipt, Inc. for $550M in cash. As a result of the deal, Target said it plans to bring same-day delivery services to half of its stores by early 2018. Meanwhile, e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) said that customers can shop "all the way up to Christmas Eve" with Prime Free Same-Day Delivery and Prime Now... Separately, Eli Lilly (LLY) shares rose a bit over 1% after the company reaffirmed its fiscal 2017 adjusted earnings per share and revenue outlook and provided fiscal 2018 EPS and revenue guidance... Meanwhile, T-Mobile (TMUS) shares rose fractionally after the company said it will acquire TV technology company Layer3 TV and that it plans to launch a "disruptive" new TV service in 2018. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Overstock.com (OSTK), which rallied 14% after the Financial Times reported that the company is exploring a sale in order to use the capital to form a digital global property registry. Also higher was Honeywell (HON), which gained 1.3% after it updated its outlook for Q4 and FY17 and provided FY18 EPS and revenue guidance. Among the notable losers was Oasis Petroleum (OAS), which slipped another 3% after Guggenheim downgraded the stock to Neutral following yesterday's slide on the heels of an acreage purchase agreement. Also lower was Teva (TEVA), which fell 5% following a report that the company will unveil a new restructuring plan that will include layoffs. INDEXES: The Dow rose 80.63, or 0.33%, to 24,585.43, the Nasdaq gained 13.48, or 0.2%, to 6,875.80, and the S&P 500 slid 1.26, or 0.05%, to 2,662.85.