Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.62%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.43%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.50%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 2.56% or 4.15 points to trade at 166.42 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 2.19% or 1.92 points to end at 89.43 and Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) was up 1.84% or 2.43 points to 134.68 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which lost 0.83% or 0.42 points to trade at 50.26 in late trade. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) declined 0.48% or 0.62 points to end at 127.58 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shed 0.43% or 0.59 points to 137.57.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which rose 6.59% to 6.790, Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which was up 5.83% to settle at 10.07 and Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which gained 5.05% to close at 21.42.
The worst performers were Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) which was down 5.82% to 68.40 in late trade, Acuity Brands Inc (NYSE:AYI) which lost 4.71% to settle at 242.98 and Apartment Investment & Management Co (NYSE:AIV) which was down 3.98% to 42.22 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CPRX) which rose 30.36% to 1.460, Aemetis Inc (NASDAQ:AMTX) which was up 26.92% to settle at 1.6500 and Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holding (NASDAQ:CRBP) which gained 26.35% to close at 8.870.
The worst performers were Great Basin Scientific Inc (NASDAQ:GBSN) which was down 55.41% to 0.3300 in late trade, Kelly Services B Inc (NASDAQ:KELYB) which lost 29.82% to settle at 19.510 and Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI) which was down 27.86% to 0.0303 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1901 to 1250 and 80 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1714 rose and 803 declined, while 88 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.70% to 12.99.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to $1269.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 2.20% or 1.07 to hit $49.76 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.83% or 0.93 to trade at $51.80 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.1208, while USD/JPY rose 0.63% to 103.54.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.03% at 96.13.