Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.17%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.28%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.19%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 1.93% or 1.57 points to trade at 82.87 at the close. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) added 1.54% or 2.01 points to end at 132.16 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was up 1.47% or 0.79 points to 54.64 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 3.43% or 3.28 points to trade at 92.32 in late trade. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) declined 1.79% or 2.12 points to end at 116.49 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) shed 1.37% or 0.76 points to 54.56.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Invesco Plc (NYSE:IVZ) which rose 7.80% to 17.28, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXN) which was up 7.40% to settle at 106.63 and Rollins Inc (NYSE:ROL) which gained 7.09% to close at 38.53.
The worst performers were Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:TXN) which was down 7.48% to 118.95 in late trade, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) which lost 5.16% to settle at 788.19 and Analog Devices Inc (NASDAQ:ADI) which was down 4.79% to 105.57 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Tile Shop Hldgs Inc (NASDAQ:TTS) which rose 53.98% to 1.740, The Dixie Group Inc (NASDAQ:DXYN) which was up 43.20% to settle at 1.790 and Adamis Pharma (NASDAQ:ADMP) which gained 31.82% to close at 0.72.
The worst performers were OpGen Inc (NASDAQ:OPGN) which was down 37.97% to 3.660 in late trade, Cool Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AWSM) which lost 23.85% to settle at 0.338 and CHF Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:CHFS) which was down 21.83% to 1.110 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1792 to 1060 and 99 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1375 rose and 1221 declined, while 97 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.11% to 14.01.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.50% or 7.50 to $1495.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 2.59% or 1.41 to hit $55.89 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.15% or 0.09 to trade at $61.12 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1132, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 108.66.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 97.222.