Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Telecoms, Utilities and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.45% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.03%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.16%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 9.88% or 20.99 points to trade at 233.45 at the close. Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) added 1.11% or 0.50 points to end at 45.74 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) was up 0.95% or 0.42 points to 44.40 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 1.73% or 1.03 points to trade at 58.36 in late trade. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) declined 1.61% or 2.56 points to end at 156.51 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) shed 1.43% or 0.46 points to 31.66.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) which rose 9.88% to 233.45, AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) which was up 5.00% to settle at 38.03 and Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which gained 4.47% to close at 295.61.
The worst performers were Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AKAM) which was down 14.62% to 45.49 in late trade, Universal Health Services Inc (NYSE:UHS) which lost 8.15% to settle at 112.88 and Robert Half International Inc (NYSE:RHI) which was down 7.45% to 44.24 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Synthesis Energy Systems Inc (NASDAQ:SYMX) which rose 40.28% to 0.5050, China Lending Corp (NASDAQ:CLDC) which was up 40.74% to settle at 3.80 and InfoSonics Corp (NASDAQ:IFON) which gained 23.58% to close at 0.610.
The worst performers were Diana Containerships Inc (NASDAQ:DCIX) which was down 58.46% to 0.1911 in late trade, Top Ships Inc (NASDAQ:TOPS) which lost 30.30% to settle at 0.3206 and DryShips Inc (NASDAQ:DRYS) which was down 26.24% to 1.04 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1625 to 1479 and 138 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1320 fell and 1158 advanced, while 138 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 1.38% to 9.56.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.68% or 8.50 to $1260.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 1.69% or 0.81 to hit $48.70 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.43% or 0.72 to trade at $50.92 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.68% to 1.1725, while USD/JPY fell 0.59% to 111.23.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.61% at 93.35.