How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday
The Associated Press
Stocks closed solidly higher Wednesday, shaking off some recent doldrums and giving the S&P 500 its biggest daily gain since late August. Energy companies did particularly well as prices for crude oil and natural gas climbed, and Microsoft helped pull the tech sector higher after announcing a dividend increase and a new stock buyback program. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq all rose.Â