Stocks rose in spite of renewed gains in crude oil prices and a report from retailers that sales were unchanged during the week ending May 24.

At the close Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 45.68 points to 12,594.03, up 0.36 percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 index rose 0.4 percent to 1,390.84, up 5.49 points. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.22 percent to 2,486.70, up 0.22 percent.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,767 shares advanced and 1,348 declined on a volume of 1.192 billion shares traded.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 28/32 to yield 4.027 percent.

The euro traded at $1.564 from Tuesday's $1.5695, while the dollar traded at 104.67 yen from Tuesday's 104.25 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei index lost 183.87 points to 13,709.44, off 1.32 percent.

In London, the FTSE 100 index rose 11.10 points to 6,069, up 0.18 percent.