Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Technology and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.20%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.51%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.58%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which rose 3.13% or 1.35 points to trade at 44.51 at the close. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) added 2.17% or 4.17 points to end at 196.12 and Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) was up 1.70% or 5.09 points to 303.84 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which lost 2.48% or 2.80 points to trade at 110.07 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) declined 1.04% or 0.42 points to end at 39.93 and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) shed 0.84% or 1.25 points to 148.34.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:DXCM) which rose 9.80% to 133.72, Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB) which was up 9.31% to settle at 119.59 and Cincinnati Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CINF) which gained 5.21% to close at 117.79.
The worst performers were Brown Forman (NYSE:BFb) which was down 7.32% to 56.33 in late trade, Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) which lost 4.56% to settle at 81.28 and Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which was down 4.55% to 94.14 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Aptorum Group Ltd Class A (NASDAQ:APM) which rose 554.44% to 9.49, Solowin Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:SWIN) which was up 135.00% to settle at 47.00 and Trxade Group Inc (NASDAQ:MEDS) which gained 107.21% to close at 17.26.
The worst performers were bioAffinity Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:BIAF) which was down 50.00% to 1.50 in late trade, Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:NEPT) which lost 46.40% to settle at 0.20 and Phunware Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN) which was down 30.23% to 10.27 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1994 to 855 and 94 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1939 rose and 1457 declined, while 132 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.28% to 14.50.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.60% or 12.85 to $2,154.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 1.27% or 0.99 to hit $79.14 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.07% or 0.88 to trade at $82.92 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.38% to 1.09, while USD/JPY fell 0.39% to 149.45.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.40% at 103.34.