YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Participants shrugged off a worse-than-expected GDP reading to hand stocks their best single-session gain in one week. Financial stocks led the charge and helped keep the broader market in the green for the entire session.

The advance first quarter GDP report indicated that the U.S. economy fell 6.1% between January and March. A drop of 4.7% had been expected. Despite the ugly headline number, participants weren't deterred from bidding stocks higher. Some took heart that economic conditions may be turning since personal consumption climbed 2.2% after dropping 4.3% in the fourth quarter. The swing in spending was also better than expected as the consensus called for an increase of 0.9%.

However, the FOMC's latest policy statement, released today, noted that household spending will continue to be pressured by job losses, decreased housing wealth, and tight credit conditions. The committee expects continued weak economic activity, but feels its policy actions combined with fiscal stimulus should help contribute to a gradual resumption of sustained economic growth. The FOMC kept the federal funds rate unchanged at 0.00% to 0.25%, as expected. Its quantitative easing targets were also unchanged.

Stocks showed some volatility and climbed to a gain of 3.1% following the announcement, but eventually pulled back. Meanwhile, Treasuries moved lower; the 10-year Note finished down roughly 23 ticks, which lifted its yield to almost 3.1%.

Still, hope for an economic recovery in the second half of this year helped prop up oil prices. Oil prices gained 2.2% to close at $51.00 per barrel, despite a massive build of 4.05 million barrels during the week ending April 24. A build of 1.8 million barrels was expected.

The uptick in crude prices combined with broad-based optimism helped lift energy stocks 2.8%. Exxon Mobil (XOM 68.44, +1.36) provided additional support by increasing its quarterly dividend to $0.42 per share from $0.40 per share.

Financials (+4.8%) were the best performing sector, though. Their advance was led by diversified financial services stocks (+5.8%) and diversified bank stocks (+3.7%). Their gains came despite news from Bloomberg.com that at least six of the 19 largest U.S. banks may require additional capital, reflecting participants' willingness to pick up bank stocks after watching the shares slide in each of the past two sessions.

Leadership from financials helped take nine of the 10 major sectors in the S&P 500 higher for the session. Telecom (-0.5%) was the only sector to finish in the red.

Earnings news was upbeat heading into Wednesday's trading, but participants generally looked past the announcements. However, earnings will dominate headlines ahead of Thursday's opening bell as approximately 150 companies are scheduled to announce their latest results tomorrow morning. Initial jobless claims data and personal spending data for March are also scheduled for early release.DJ30 +168.78 NASDAQ +38.13 NQ100 +1.5% R2K +3.9% SP400 +2.8% SP500 +18.48 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2073/2.38 bln/604 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2560/1.48 bln/484