Wall Street continue its climb to records in closing

US shares rose for a third day, sending benchmark indexes to records, as data showed fewer Americans filed for jobless claims and investors speculated interest rates will remain low.

The Fed said Wednesday at the conclusion of a two-day policy meeting it would keep interest rates near zero for a "considerable time," language supportive of equities which had been expected by some to be dropped from the statement.

The Dow industrials closed Wednesday at a record high with the S&P coming within a point of its intraday record.

Treasury notes were declining. Yields on the 2-year Treasury bill and the 10-year Treasury note were up 0.8 and 1.3 basis points to 0.577% and 2.633% respectively.

Data released earlier showed U.S. housing starts and permits fell in August, but upward revisions to the prior month`s data suggested the housing market continued to gradually improve.

Separate data showing a sharp drop in the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits last week suggested the slowdown in job growth last month was probably an anomaly.

Accordingly:

-The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.64% or 109.14 points to 17265.99

-The S&P 500 index gained 0.49% or 9.79 points to  2011.36

-The NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.68% or 31.24 points to  4593.43   . As of 16:20 p.m. ET