Since late August when the Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke announced his quantitative easing plan the entire stock market has inflated sharply higher. One industry group that has soared higher has been the oil refiner stocks. This sector has seen very significant gains and remains strong even today.

One day after U.S. stocks fell sharply amid mixed corporate earnings and as China raised interest rates for the first time since 2007, the major indices extended their broad-based rally Wednesday, buoyed by a positive outlook for the financial sector and a spattering of strong earnings reports from airline and commodity related companies.

The U.S. Dollar gave back much of its earlier gains Tuesday afternoon after the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee revealed a disappointing outlook for the U.S. economy.

U.S. equity markets broke sharply late in the trading session following a bearish Durable goods report this morning and a gloomy outlook for the economy according to the Fed’s Beige Book.