Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Goods and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.20%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.83%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.74%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which rose 2.56% or 2.50 points to trade at 100.25 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 2.51% or 7.62 points to end at 311.77 and Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) was up 2.36% or 5.86 points to 254.16 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which lost 1.05% or 1.32 points to trade at 124.08 in late trade. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) declined 0.64% or 0.81 points to end at 125.54 and Honeywell International Inc (NYSE:HON) gained 0.06% or 0.10 points to 164.61.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) which rose 7.46% to 88.56, L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was up 4.78% to settle at 31.81 and Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) which gained 4.42% to close at 58.33.
The worst performers were Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which was down 7.39% to 46.96 in late trade, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) which lost 7.04% to settle at 36.55 and Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FANG) which was down 3.46% to 30.12 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were CTi Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ:CTIC) which rose 104.76% to 2.150, Iterum Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ:ITRM) which was up 63.35% to settle at 1.05 and Chinanet Online Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CNET) which gained 55.98% to close at 2.020.
The worst performers were Aptorum Group Ltd Class A (NASDAQ:APM) which was down 43.70% to 2.68 in late trade, The9 Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:NCTY) which lost 39.08% to settle at 0.317 and Oasis Petroleum Inc (NASDAQ:OAS) which was down 31.61% to 0.280 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1639 to 1458 and 82 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1448 fell and 1415 advanced, while 87 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.38% to 26.37.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.65% or 12.30 to $1890.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.45% or 0.57 to hit $39.86 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.24% or 0.10 to trade at $42.12 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.1723, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 105.45.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 93.890.