Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Wednesday's session are Aflac Inc., ConocoPhillips and General Dynamics Corp.

With the world still thirsty and eager to save energy, Energy Recovery Inc., a small-cap maker of flow efficiency devices for desalination plants, has seen its active project list grow more in the past five weeks than in the previous year.

With the third-quarter earnings season set to kick in this week, the U.S. markets are challenging the year's best levels.

Alcoa (AA) shares got a boost today after CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said he’s “very optimistic” about sales as the Chinese economy continues to grow. In a Bloomberg television interview Kleinfeld said China reverted to being a net importer of aluminum this year buying approximately 700 000 metric tons of the metal in the first half of 2009. It’s “clearly out of the woods ” he said “Its economy has come back and is growing again.” Kleinfeld said “things are bottoming out ” and some sectors were even “coming back.” Even the automotive sector was showing signs of improvement. Shares ...

Though the year started off slow, the industrial goods sector seems to have hit its stride.