Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Oil & Gas and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.70%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.91%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.02%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 1.89% or 2.57 points to trade at 138.24 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 1.52% or 0.76 points to end at 50.48 and Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V) was up 1.43% or 2.46 points to 174.88 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which lost 1.99% or 2.62 points to trade at 129.22 in late trade. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) declined 0.26% or 0.52 points to end at 196.85 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) shed 0.03% or 0.01 points to 52.08.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) which rose 3.59% to 64.35, Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS) which was up 3.49% to settle at 94.61 and Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) which gained 3.28% to close at 16.71.
The worst performers were L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was down 2.94% to 17.18 in late trade, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) which lost 1.99% to settle at 129.22 and Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE:COG) which was down 1.98% to 17.34 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Histogenics Corp (NASDAQ:OCGN) which rose 34.38% to 1.720, Paringa Resources Ltd (NASDAQ:PNRL) which was up 31.47% to settle at 2.59 and Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RTTR) which gained 29.22% to close at 0.350.
The worst performers were James River Group Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:JRVR) which was down 22.60% to 37.88 in late trade, Loop Industries Inc (NASDAQ:LOOP) which lost 19.41% to settle at 10.3000 and Caladrius Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CLBS) which was down 14.77% to 2.0200 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1825 to 999 and 103 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1558 rose and 1056 declined, while 84 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.09% to 18.64.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.46% or 6.90 to $1510.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $52.62 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $58.33 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.0974, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 107.50.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 98.840.