Stocks Like Fed's New Language

About 1.77 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, with advancers beat decliners by a 9-to-7 margin. Trading volume on the Nasdaq was 1.91 billion shares, and eight stocks fell for every seven that rose.

The 10-year Treasury went from down 1/32 in price before the Fed's announcement to up 6/32 afterward, lowering the yield to 4.53%. The dollar firmed against the yen and fell against the euro.

On the economic front, the Commerce Department said retail sales rose 0.3% in November. Excluding automobiles, sales were down 0.3% for the month. Economists expected the headline number to rise 0.4% and for sales excluding autos to increase by 0.1%.

Separately, the Commerce Department said business inventories rose 0.3% in October. Economists expected a 0.5% gain, following a 0.5% increase in September

Energy prices rose, as ConocoPhillips'(COP Quote) $36 billion acquisition of Burlington Resources(BR Quote) sent natural gas futures up 54 cents to $15.38 per million British thermal units. January crude added 7 cents to $61.37 a barrel.

Gold futures closed lower. The February contract, which broke to record highs Monday, finished down $7.40 at $524.10 an ounce.

Aside from Conoco's acquisition, other corporate dramas were playing out at Vodafone(VOD Quote) and Wendy's(WEN Quote).

At Wendy's, Nelson Peltz, the Milken-era corporate raider who ran Triarc(TRY Quote), reportedly is proposing a further restructuring for the fast-food chain, including the complete spinoff of Tim Hortons. Wendy's previously agreed to a partial spinoff of the doughnut-store operator under pressure from other activist hedge funds. Peltz owns a 5.5% stake in Wendy's, according to The New York Times. Wendy's rose $3.63, or 7.1%, to $55.

Vodafone reportedly has made the highest offer in an auction for Turkish mobile phone operator Telsim, outbidding Kuwait's MTC for the company. Vodafone reportedly offered $4.55 billion for Telsim, which has about a quarter of the Turkish cell-phone market. Vodafone lost 57 cents, or 2.5%, to $22.09.