US stocks finish slightly up as energy equities gain

US stocks finished modestly higher Wednesday as an afternoon rally led by Apple and energy equities overcame early weakness on fears about an economic slowdown in China.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,404.45, up 1.61 points (0.01 percent).

The broad-based S&P 500 added 2.15 (0.10 percent) at 2,086.22, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 7.60 (0.15 percent) to 2,086.22.

Apple, which has been mostly falling the last three weeks, rose 1.6 percent, while energy stocks like Dow member ExxonMobil (+1.7 percent), ConocoPhillips (+2.3 percent) and Apache (+3.2 percent) gained on higher oil prices.

"The market made a nice turnaround," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. "Obviously it's still about China."

US stocks spent much of the day in the red due to fears that Beijing's devaluation of the yuan signals that China's economy is weaker than thought. The Dow was down more than 275 points early in the session.