Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Healthcare and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.14%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.03%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.50%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 6.13% or 7.44 points to trade at 128.79 at the close. E I du Pont de Nemours & Co (NYSE:DD) added 1.11% or 0.84 points to end at 76.34 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) was up 0.83% or 0.26 points to 31.67 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which lost 1.66% or 1.07 points to trade at 63.58 in late trade. United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) declined 1.36% or 1.49 points to end at 108.18 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) shed 1.26% or 0.62 points to 48.39.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Arconic Inc (NYSE:ARNC) which rose 11.22% to 25.28, Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE:AVY) which was up 9.08% to settle at 79.65 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) which gained 6.13% to close at 128.79.
The worst performers were Pitney Bowes Inc (NYSE:PBI) which was down 17.46% to 13.14 in late trade, Dominion Resources Inc (NYSE:D) which lost 5.81% to settle at 71.85 and Automatic Data Processing Inc (NASDAQ:ADP) which was down 5.68% to 95.25 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Pulmatrix Inc (NASDAQ:PULM) which rose 73.49% to 3.730, EnteroMedics Inc (NASDAQ:ETRM) which was up 33.23% to settle at 8.3800 and Moleculin Biotech Inc (NASDAQ:MBRX) which gained 30.90% to close at 2.33.
The worst performers were Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CATB) which was down 70.72% to 1.180 in late trade, Real Goods Solar Inc (NASDAQ:RGSE) which lost 24.29% to settle at 2.9300 and Galena Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:GALE) which was down 22.42% to 1.2800 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1667 to 1550 and 33 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1272 fell and 1236 advanced, while 118 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.34% to 11.71.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.05% or 0.55 to $1210.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.17% or 0.62 to hit $53.43 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 1.51% or 0.84 to trade at $56.42 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.25% to 1.0770, while USD/JPY rose 0.33% to 113.17.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 99.67.