US STOCKS-Financials rise on interest rate expectations

NEW YORK, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Financial stocks were leading gains on the Dow and S&P 500 indexes on Thursday, in the wake of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate forecast in its policy statement Wednesday.

While the central bank kept intact its pledge to keep rates low for a "considerable time," its outlook included forecasts of higher-than-expected rates in 2015 and 2016.

The S&P financial index was trading up 1 percent as the best performing of the 10 major S&P sectors and was on track for its fourth straight gain. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) , up 1.5 percent to $187.59, was the top boost to the Dow Industrials.

The four-day gain in the S&P financials of 1.8 percent would mark its best performance over a four-day period in a month. Goldman Sachs is on track for a seventh consecutive gain, which would be the longest winning streak for the stock in nearly eight years.

Goldman shares appear poised to continue their advance, as the stock is comfortably above significant technical support levels while Thomson Reuters StarMine holds a $294 intrinsic value on the stock, roughly 57 percent above today's price.

Index snapshot at 10:53 a.m. EDT (1453 GMT):

* S&P 500 up 9.5 points, or 0.47 percent.

* Nasdaq Comp up 26.17 points, or 0.57 percent.

* Dow industrials up 91.81 points, or 0.54 percent.

* Russell 2000 up 6.35 points, or 0.55 percent.

* S&P MidCap up 6.39 points, or 0.45 percent.

* S&P SmallCap up 4.44 points, or 0.67 percent. (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Bernadette Baum)