Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.46% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.37%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.35%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which rose 3.29% or 2.98 points to trade at 93.60 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 2.32% or 1.86 points to end at 81.92 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) was up 2.25% or 2.75 points to 124.99 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which lost 0.80% or 0.29 points to trade at 35.91 in late trade. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) declined 0.68% or 0.48 points to end at 70.45 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) gained 0.36% or 0.18 points to 49.81.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Lowe’s Companies Inc (NYSE:LOW) which rose 9.52% to 81.45, Mylan Inc (NASDAQ:MYL) which was up 7.22% to settle at 44.87 and Wynn Resorts Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) which gained 6.82% to close at 102.71.
The worst performers were Envision Healthcare Corp (NYSE:EVHC) which was down 6.30% to 65.59 in late trade, Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which lost 6.15% to settle at 12.81 and Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY) which was down 4.51% to 42.14 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:DVAX) which rose 52.78% to 6.88, Skyline Medical Inc (NASDAQ:SKLN) which was up 33.33% to settle at 2.5600 and Calithera Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CALA) which gained 28.89% to close at 11.60.
The worst performers were Impax Laboratories Inc (NASDAQ:IPXL) which was down 34.74% to 9.30 in late trade, CyberOptics Corporation (NASDAQ:CYBE) which lost 19.33% to settle at 27.75 and Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB (NASDAQ:OASM) which was down 19.31% to 1.880 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2187 to 1048 and 33 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1879 rose and 626 declined, while 111 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.17% to 12.51.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.32% or 4.05 to $1249.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.63% or 0.34 to hit $53.67 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.42% or 0.24 to trade at $56.27 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.29% to 1.0546, while USD/JPY rose 0.83% to 113.69.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.42% at 101.76.