YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: There weren't any catalysts for trade this session, but stocks still made their way solidly higher. Participation was paltry ahead of the FOMC rate decision, though.

Stocks spent the session in the green, but there was never really a leader among them. Instead, gains were broad and varied.

Telecom made the best move. It finished 1.1% higher, though the sector's lack of market weight meant that its strength had little influence on overall trade.

Tech stocks, which is the largest sector by market weight, struggled in the early going, but eventually caught up with the broader market. The sector settled with a 0.5% gain, but computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 42.60, -3.70) remained near 52-week lows following news that the company's CEO will step down amid sexual harassment claims. The ignominy of situation completely overshadowed the company's upside guidance.

Stocks encountered some choppy price action into the close, such that the major indices finished shy of their session highs. Despite that, stocks were still able to book their best closing levels of the past month. The improvement was fractional, though.

Trade also lacked conviction. That was made evident by the paltry 790 million shares that exchanged hands on the NYSE today. It was the lowest share count all year.

Many point to tomorrow's FOMC decision as a primary reason that traders opted to stay on the sidelines. The consensus is that the FOMC will keep its target interest rate in a range of 0.00% to 0.25%, but many are concerned that the Fed might change the verbiage in its directive.

The greenback gained 0.3% against a basket of foreign currencies ahead of the FOMC decision. Most of that move came at the euro's expense, which directly dropped 0.4% against the dollar.

Commodities were largely mixed this session. As such, the CRB Commodity Index closed flat.

Action among precious metals saw silver prices slide 1.2% to $18.24 per ounce, but gold prices limited their downside to just a 0.2% loss that left prices to settle at $1202.60 per ounce.

As for energy, oil prices pushed 1.0% higher to $81.48 per barrel, but natural gas prices dropped 3.4% to $4.32 per MMBtu.

Advancing Sectors: Telecom (+1.1%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.9%), Energy (+0.6%), Financials (+0.6%), Industrials (+0.6%), Tech (+0.5%), Consumer Staples (+0.5%), Utilities (+0.4%), Materials (+0.4%), Health Care (+0.3%)
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +45.19 NASDAQ +17.22 NQ100 +0.7% R2K +1.4% SP400 +1.0% SP500 +6.15 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1763/1.62 bln/880 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2199/789 mln/830