Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Technology and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.10%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.31%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.64%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 2.28% or 3.90 points to trade at 175.08 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 1.64% or 2.48 points to end at 153.29 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 1.25% or 0.90 points to 73.18 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which lost 1.83% or 1.06 points to trade at 57.02 in late trade. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declined 1.56% or 0.82 points to end at 51.75 and Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ:HON) shed 1.21% or 2.50 points to 204.65.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) which rose 8.20% to 21.77, Helmerich and Payne Inc (NYSE:HP) which was up 5.83% to settle at 24.51 and Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) which gained 5.57% to close at 19.53.
The worst performers were Kroger Company (NYSE:KR) which was down 5.13% to 42.76 in late trade, Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) which lost 3.94% to settle at 33.15 and Brown Forman (NYSE:BFb) which was down 2.77% to 70.44 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Insignia Systems Inc (NASDAQ:ISIG) which rose 84.10% to 19.110, Energy Focu (NASDAQ:EFOI) which was up 70.26% to settle at 3.320 and Pioneer Pow (NASDAQ:PPSI) which gained 34.04% to close at 10.790.
The worst performers were Radius Heal (NASDAQ:RDUS) which was down 44.30% to 8.01 in late trade, Nuvei Corp (NASDAQ:NVEI) which lost 40.45% to settle at 57.97 and Stitch Fix (NASDAQ:SFIX) which was down 23.91% to 19.00 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2069 to 1174 and 147 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2536 rose and 1291 declined, while 168 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 9.09% to 19.90.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.04% or 0.65 to $1784.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.85% or 0.61 to hit $72.66 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.04% or 0.03 to trade at $75.95 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1345, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 113.71.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.44% at 95.945.