Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Basic Materials and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.68%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.88%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.43%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 2.42% or 2.52 points to trade at 106.45 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 2.01% or 1.77 points to end at 89.82 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 1.63% or 0.55 points to 34.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which lost 0.88% or 1.19 points to trade at 133.82 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 0.58% or 0.38 points to end at 65.16 and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) shed 0.48% or 0.13 points to 27.08.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Staples Inc (NASDAQ:SPLS) which rose 8.52% to 9.94, Arconic Inc (NYSE:ARNC) which was up 5.77% to settle at 23.10 and TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) which gained 4.52% to close at 38.14.
The worst performers were Advance Auto Parts Inc (NYSE:AAP) which was down 4.30% to 116.71 in late trade, O'Reilly Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:ORLY) which lost 2.19% to settle at 217.02 and FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) which was down 2.09% to 29.10 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Spherix Incorporated (NASDAQ:SPEX) which rose 70.54% to 1.9100, Moleculin Biotech Inc (NASDAQ:MBRX) which was up 65.66% to settle at 3.28 and The Spectranetics Corporation (NASDAQ:SPNC) which gained 26.15% to close at 38.35.
The worst performers were Fenix Parts Inc (NASDAQ:FENX) which was down 61.54% to 0.600 in late trade, Meridian Waste Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MRDN) which lost 31.67% to settle at 1.64 and DryShips Inc (NASDAQ:DRYS) which was down 24.71% to 1.92 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2376 to 770 and 107 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1911 rose and 599 declined, while 114 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 9.22% to 10.04.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.33% or 4.07 to $1250.97 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.29% or 0.57 to hit $44.81 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.43% or 0.67 to trade at $47.59 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.34% to 1.1379, while USD/JPY fell 0.05% to 112.28.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.45% at 95.75.