US stocks are closing modestly higher, led by gains in energy companies as investors hope that the worst may soon be over for the battered sector. Exxon Mobil led the Dow Jones industrial average higher with a gain of 2%. Other energy companies also rose. Investors were encouraged by another gain in the price of oil, its seventh rise in the last eight days. The Dow edged up 34 points, or 0.2%, to 16,899. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added eight points, or 0.4%, to 1,986. The Nasdaq composite climbed 13 points, or 0.3%, to 4,703. (More Dow Jones stories.)