Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Utilities and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.90%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), which rose 2.21% or 2.83 points to trade at 130.62 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 2.18% or 1.78 points to end at 83.48 and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) was up 2.00% or 1.95 points to 99.65 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which lost 0.90% or 0.80 points to trade at 87.78 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 0.62% or 0.58 points to end at 92.37 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) shed 0.02% or 0.02 points to 113.55.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which rose 7.52% to 41.02, Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) which was up 7.12% to settle at 107.78 and FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) which gained 6.94% to close at 173.94.
The worst performers were Navient Cor (NASDAQ:NAVI) which was down 3.70% to 13.28 in late trade, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which lost 3.43% to settle at 94.88 and CarMax Inc (NYSE:KMX) which was down 2.12% to 54.58 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Galectin Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:GALT) which rose 35.42% to 2.600, Novavax Inc (NASDAQ:NVAX) which was up 32.88% to settle at 1.940 and Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ:CZR) which gained 21.44% to close at 8.100.
The worst performers were Benitec Biopharma Ltd (NASDAQ:BNTC) which was down 20.61% to 1.3100 in late trade, Mirna Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MIRN) which lost 19.03% to settle at 2.000 and Shutterfly Inc (NASDAQ:SFLY) which was down 12.44% to 44.20 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2680 to 518 and 51 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1785 rose and 740 declined, while 96 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 16.77% to 13.25.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 1.44% or 18.95 to $1337.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 3.47% or 1.53 to hit $45.58 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 2.57% or 1.18 to trade at $47.06 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.30% to 1.1184, while USD/JPY fell 1.20% to 100.48.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.47% at 95.52.