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 added 0.8%, as did the Nasdaq composite. Small-company stocks did even better with a 1.1% gain. Utilities, which investors shun when they're more willing to take on risk, were the only sector to fall. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.30%.