Stocks Close Higher

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stocks closed higher Wednesday after a late surge, after spending much of the day pressured by declining commodities prices and energy sector stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day up 51 points, or 0.5%, to 10,337. The S&P 500 added 4 points, or 0.4%, at 1096 and the Nasdaq gained 11 points, or 0.5%, at 2184.

3M(MMM) shares rebounded from Tuesday's selloff and led advancers on the Dow, after analysts from Citigroup upgraded the stock to buy from hold. Shares traded higher by 3.4% to $79.74 at the closing bell.

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Prices on the January crude oil contract fell $1.95 to settle at $70.67 a barrel after trading around $73 after the the Energy Information Administration said crude inventories fell by 3.8 million barrels. The draw down was better than the 600,000-barrel build in crude oil inventories that analysts polled by Platts anticipated. But an unexpected rise in gasoline and distillate stockpiles helped whipsaw and ultimately drive futures lower Wednesday.

But oil-related shares pared losses late after spending much of the day mired in the red. Chevron(CVX) added 0.4%, while Exxon Mobil(XOM) declined by 0.2%.

The Dollar Index stabilized in the afternoon. The index was recently down by 0.3%. Gold for February delivery shed $22.50 to settle at $1,120.90 an ounce.

"That nonfarm payroll report [on Friday] really put the fear in the dollar-carry trade. You've seen a sharp pullback in gold and commodities," said Michael Pento, senior market strategist with Delta Global Advisors. "Today we're kind of treading water because people seem to think that the Fed is going to be more aggressive and take action sooner than expected."