Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Healthcare and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.01%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.11%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.08%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD), which rose 1.51% or 0.99 points to trade at 66.40 at the close. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) added 0.93% or 0.75 points to end at 81.79 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) was up 0.64% or 0.42 points to 65.69 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which lost 1.40% or 1.40 points to trade at 98.46 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) declined 0.92% or 0.47 points to end at 50.43 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) shed 0.80% or 1.23 points to 152.51.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE:KORS) which rose 6.59% to 45.55, Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which was up 5.12% to settle at 16.62 and Whole Foods Market Inc (NASDAQ:WFM) which gained 4.92% to close at 33.94.
The worst performers were Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was down 4.33% to 10.60 in late trade, Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) which lost 4.10% to settle at 66.37 and Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA) which was down 3.92% to 36.25 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ocean Power Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:OPTT) which rose 294.77% to 6.040, SemiLEDS Corporation (NASDAQ:LEDS) which was up 69.06% to settle at 2.3500 and Hercules Offshore Inc (NASDAQ:HERO) which gained 37.72% to close at 1.5700.
The worst performers were Daktronics Inc (NASDAQ:DAKT) which was down 19.57% to 6.41 in late trade, Cymabay Therapeu (NASDAQ:CBAY) which lost 18.85% to settle at 1.980 and BOS Better Online Solutions (NASDAQ:BOSC) which was down 17.94% to 3.340 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2162 to 1143 and 36 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1597 rose and 969 declined, while 65 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.07% to 14.20.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.23% or 2.75 to $1214.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.20% or 0.10 to hit $49.20 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.06% or 0.03 to trade at $49.92 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.49% to 1.1187, while USD/JPY fell 1.05% to 109.54.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.44% at 95.41.