US stocks are closing higher for the third day in a row, led by gains in energy companies following another big rise in the price of crude oil. Chevron jumped 4% Wednesday, the biggest gain in the Dow Jones industrial average. Technology stocks also did well. Facebook rose nearly 4%. The Dow average rose 257 points, or 1.6%, to 16,453. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 31 points, or 1.7%, to 1,926. The Nasdaq composite climbed 98 points, or 2.2%, to 4,534. A three-day rally in stocks has wiped out about half of the market's loss since the beginning of the year. (More Dow Jones stories.)