Wednesday, the Dow closed 27.06 points (0.12%) higher at 21,892.43, the NASDAQ gained 66.42 points (1.05%) to finish at 6,368.31, and the S&P 500 increased 11.29 points (0.46%) to 2.457.59. The Russell 2000 was up 7.64 points (0.55%) at 1,391.32, and the Wilshire 5000 climbed 144.77 points (0.57%) to 25,496.81.

ON THIS DATE: In 1881, the first tennis championships in the U.S. were played. In 1887, the kinetoscope was patented by Thomas Edison. The device was used to produce moving pictures. In 1920, John Lloyd Wright was issued a patent for “Toy-Cabin Construction,” which are known as Lincoln Logs (U.S. patent 1,351,086). In 1935, the act of exporting U.S. arms to belligerents was prohibited by an act signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1959, Sandy Koufax set a National League record by striking out 18 batters. In 1965, the Department of Housing and Urban Development was created by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. In 1990, East and West Germany signed a treaty that meant the harmonizing of political and legal systems. In 1991, in a “Solidarity Day” protest hundreds of thousands of union members marched in Washington, D.C. In 1994, Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics after a half-century. In 1998, a ballistic missile was fired over Japan by North Korea. The missile landed in stages in the waters around Japan. There was no known target.