Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Telecoms and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.53%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.63%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.54%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which rose 1.97% or 2.56 points to trade at 132.34 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 1.74% or 3.70 points to end at 215.94 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was up 1.62% or 2.22 points to 139.38 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 0.92% or 3.24 points to trade at 348.84 in late trade. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) declined 0.88% or 0.39 points to end at 43.89 and Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V) shed 0.71% or 1.30 points to 180.60.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which rose 7.91% to 18.70, Capri Holdings Ltd (NYSE:CPRI) which was up 6.63% to settle at 37.16 and Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) which gained 6.21% to close at 105.56.
The worst performers were Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) which was down 3.18% to 156.43 in late trade, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc (NYSE:JEC) which lost 2.64% to settle at 86.29 and NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) which was down 2.20% to 39.52 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Protagonist Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PTGX) which rose 72.92% to 8.11, Kodiak Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:KOD) which was up 49.21% to settle at 73.41 and Allakos Inc (NASDAQ:ALLK) which gained 43.56% to close at 137.73.
The worst performers were RumbleON Inc (NASDAQ:RMBL) which was down 20.44% to 0.79 in late trade, Sienna Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SNNA) which lost 18.24% to settle at 0.21 and Revance The (NASDAQ:RVNC) which was down 17.57% to 16.61 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1950 to 875 and 95 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1545 rose and 1087 declined, while 106 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.27% to 14.80.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.30% or 4.40 to $1480.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 3.99% or 2.24 to hit $58.34 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 3.58% or 2.18 to trade at $63.03 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.1080, while USD/JPY rose 0.01% to 108.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 97.578.