Stocks Inch Higher

Stocks are closing modestly higher on Wall Street as retailers including Urban Outfitters and Target climb, the AP reports. The gains Wednesday were a reversal for the volatile retail sector, which fell sharply a day earlier. Urban Outfitters soared 17.5% and Target rose 3.3% after both companies reported results that were better than analysts were expecting. Health care and technology companies are also rose. Biogen rose 2.1% and Micron Technology rose 3.4%. Energy companies lagged the rest of the market. The price of crude oil fell. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3 points, or 0.1%, to 2,468. The Dow Jones industrial average increased 25 points, or 0.1%, to 22,024. The Nasdaq composite climbed 12 points, or 0.2%, to 6,345. (More stock market stories.)