The stock market stormed higher Wednesday as the key indexes marked their third straight advance, following a more dovish tone from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

Powell told the Economic Club of New York that interest rates are "just below" neutral, suggesting fewer Fed rate hikes ahead. In early October, the Fed chair had called rates a "long way off" from neutral.

The major market indexes, already higher ahead of his speech, took off and didn't look back. The Nasdaq surged 2.9%, the Dow Jones industrial average soared 2.5% and the S&P 500 rallied 2.3%. Small caps also participated as the Russell 2000 rallied 2.5%. Volume was higher on both the NYSE and Nasdaq vs. Tuesday, according to preliminary figures.

The Dow romped up by more than 600 points, led by 5% gains from Boeing (BA) and Caterpillar (CAT). Visa (V) jumped 4%. Big-cap techs Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) also weighed in with upside moves of nearly 4% each as the two giants vie for the title of the world's most valuable company.

Apple is 22% off its high and still well below its 50-day and 200-day moving average lines. Microsoft has been consolidating since early October, building a double-bottom base with a 112.34 buy point. It's 4% off its high and reclaimed its 50-day line Wednesday.

Internet retail and an array of software groups were among the top sector gainers in the stock market today. The few decliners included defensive sectors such as food and utilities.

Amazon.com (AMZN) and Etsy (ETSY) vaulted 6% each, boosting the internet retail group to a 6% gain as well. Stitch Fix (SFIX) added 4%. Jefferies said Amazon's cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services, could hit $71 billion in revenue by 2022.

IBD 50 stocks soared with more than a dozen companies vaulting 4% or more. Medical software maker Veeva Systems (VEEV) leapt nearly 9%, retaking its 50-day line for the first time since October. Among other software stocks in the IBD 50, Atlassian (TEAM) also surged nearly 9%, while Adobe (ADBE), ServiceNow (NOW) and Paycom Software (PAYC) popped more than 7% each.

The Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) leapt more than 3% in its third advance of the past four sessions.

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