Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Financials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.25%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.41%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.15%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), which rose 2.14% or 2.46 points to trade at 117.18 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 2.10% or 4.82 points to end at 234.76 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) was up 1.58% or 1.48 points to 95.18 in late trade.
Biggest losers included General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), which lost 2.25% or 0.56 points to trade at 24.37 in late trade. Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) declined 2.04% or 0.93 points to end at 44.64 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shed 1.92% or 1.78 points to 90.87.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which rose 8.51% to 37.09, Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) which was up 6.36% to settle at 48.84 and Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) which gained 5.87% to close at 179.39.
The worst performers were Scana Corporation (NYSE:SCG) which was down 7.83% to 51.22 in late trade, Delphi Automotive plc (NYSE:DLPH) which lost 4.20% to settle at 98.78 and Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE:KIM) which was down 3.72% to 19.41 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Avinger Inc (NASDAQ:AVGR) which rose 119.05% to 0.46, Cartesian I (NASDAQ:CRTN) which was up 45.44% to settle at 0.800 and Diana Containerships Inc (NASDAQ:DCIX) which gained 36.61% to close at 0.9699.
The worst performers were Tantech Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:TANH) which was down 32.94% to 2.83 in late trade, Veritone Inc (NASDAQ:VERI) which lost 30.28% to settle at 45.95 and Aethlon Medical Inc (NASDAQ:AEMD) which was down 22.97% to 1.140 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1750 to 1344 and 124 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1937 rose and 621 declined, while 94 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.34% to 9.83.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 1.18% or 15.37 to $1286.33 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.39% or 0.20 to hit $52.08 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.90% or 0.52 to trade at $57.40 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.34% to 1.1753, while USD/JPY rose 0.45% to 112.75.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.44% at 93.22.