U.S. stocks finished higher on Wednesday, after three consecutive days of declines, and as commodity prices rose. In world markets, European stocks ended higher, led by the DAX in Germany and the CAC 40 in France rising 0.3 percent. Asian markets ended mixed, as the Shanghai Composite rose 0.9 percent, while the Nikkei in Japan fell 0.6 percent. In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department said that orders for durable goods fell 3.8 percent and a key category that serves as a measure for business investment was down 2.8 percent. In U.S. company news, General Motors Company (GM) announced it will add 2,500 jobs at a Detroit-area factory that now manufactures the Chevrolet Volt electric car. The automaker plans to invest $69 million in the Detroit-Hamtramck plant and add two shifts of workers so the factory can make the new Chevrolet Malibu midsize car and the Impala large sedan. Meanwhile, shares of American International Group (AIG) fell 5 percent after the insurance giant's stock sale late Tuesday raised $8.7 billion, leaving the U.S. government with a small profit on the offering. The U.S. dollar rose versus the euro and versus the yen. Light sweet crude oil for July delivery rose $1.73 to $101.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose $3.40 to $1,526.70 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 38.45, or 0.3 percent, to 12,394.66. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.19, or 0.3 percent, to 1,320.47. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 15.22, or 0.6 percent, to 2,761.38.
