Stocks rallied Wednesday afternoon following the Federal Reserve highly anticipated 50-basis-points benchmark rate hike. Fed Chair Jerome Powell also ruled out even more aggressive inflation-fighting moves for the near-term, boosting bets that the central bank can control inflation without triggering a recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged over 900 points, while both the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite gained 3%.

"Inflation is much too high and we understand the hardship it is causing," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said during a news conference on Wednesday. "We're moving expeditiously to bring it back down."

However, Powell eased fears of even higher rate hikes coming ahead. "Seventy-five basis points is not something the Committee is actively considering," Powell said, added that only only moves of 50 basis point rate hikes "should be on the table at the next couple of meetings."

Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +2.99% or +124.91 points to 4,300.39

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +2.82% or +932.93 points to 34,061.72

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +3.19% or +401.10 points to 12,964.86

Federal Reserve raises benchmark interest rates by half-point percentage:

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.50% as the central bank moves more aggressively to combat decades-high inflation levels.

The 50 basis point increase is the biggest rate hike the Federal Open Market Committee has issued since May 2000--when the Fed was addressing the dot-com era bubble. While some Committee members called for even higher rate hikes, Wednesday's move had unanimous support. That rate hike brings the Fed's target interest rates to a range of 0.75% and 1.00%.

In additional, policy makers also indicated the central bank will begin reducing asset holdings on its $9 trillion balance sheet in phases. Starting June 1, the Fed will roll-off up to $47.5 billion a month--$30 billion in Treasuries and $17.5 billion in mortgage-backed securities. Then, after three months, the Fed will raise the per month cap to $95 billion--$60 billion in Treasuries and $35 billion in mortgage-backed securities.

U.S. private payrolls added less-than-expected positions in April:

U.S. private payrolls increased at a less-than-expected rate last month, as employers struggled to fill open positions to help meet demand.

Private-sector payrolls rose by 247,000 in April, according to processing firm ADP's report published Wednesday, coming below consensus economists estimates for 390,000. In March, payroll additions were upwardly revised to an increase of 479,000.

"In April, the labor market recovery showed signs of slowing as the economy approaches full employment," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, in a press statement. "While hiring demand remains strong, labor supply shortages caused job gains to soften for both goods producers and services providers."

Here's how benchmarks started trading after market open:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +0.03% or +1.28 points to 4,176.76

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.01% or +4.50 points to 33,133.29

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -0.15% or -20.90 points to 12,544.49