Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials, Oil & Gas and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.64%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.70%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.86%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 3.88% or 2.06 points to trade at 55.13 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 3.02% or 1.75 points to end at 59.64 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) was up 2.87% or 1.71 points to 61.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which lost 0.10% or 0.13 points to trade at 127.37 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) added 0.46% or 0.25 points to end at 55.06 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) gained 0.61% or 0.27 points to 44.44.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Mallinckrodt (NYSE:MNK) which rose 6.45% to 59.88, Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) which was up 6.40% to settle at 31.99 and Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which gained 6.30% to close at 23.95.
The worst performers were Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) which was down 6.19% to 13.03 in late trade, EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) which lost 2.87% to settle at 76.93 and Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) which was down 2.47% to 9.09 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were TESARO Inc (NASDAQ:TSRO) which rose 108.92% to 77.740, XOMA Corporation (NASDAQ:XOMA) which was up 36.50% to settle at 0.6201 and China Auto Logistics Inc (NASDAQ:CALI) which gained 21.13% to close at 1.720.
The worst performers were Galena Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:GALE) which was down 82.76% to 0.3500 in late trade, Lipocine In (NASDAQ:LPCN) which lost 50.56% to settle at 3.10 and Esperion Th (NASDAQ:ESPR) which was down 40.30% to 9.66 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2729 to 532 and 49 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2057 rose and 534 declined, while 51 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 10.72% to 16.74.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.22% or 2.90 to $1320.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 3.41% or 1.63 to hit $49.48 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 3.23% or 1.59 to trade at $50.85 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.52% to 1.1123, while USD/JPY rose 0.12% to 102.89.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.51% at 95.70.