Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.30% to hit a new 6-month high, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.02%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.73%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 2.16% or 4.68 points to trade at 221.15 at the close. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) added 2.03% or 5.80 points to end at 291.93 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was up 1.84% or 2.39 points to 132.18 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM), which lost 2.13% or 0.87 points to trade at 40.01 in late trade. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) declined 2.10% or 0.83 points to end at 38.67 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) shed 1.80% or 2.08 points to 113.54.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) which rose 26.04% to 272.32, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which was up 11.61% to settle at 547.53 and Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) which gained 9.10% to close at 528.49.
The worst performers were Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) which was down 6.15% to 15.72 in late trade, Nordstrom Inc (NYSE:JWN) which lost 5.47% to settle at 14.69 and SL Green Realty Corp (NYSE:SLG) which was down 4.83% to 47.12 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Bigcommerce Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BIGC) which rose 33.54% to 139.00, Fluent Inc (NASDAQ:FLNT) which was up 31.88% to settle at 3.020 and Fluidigm Corporation (NASDAQ:FLDM) which gained 30.03% to close at 11.43.
The worst performers were OUTLOOK THERAPEUTICS INC (NASDAQ:OTLK) which was down 36.33% to 0.815 in late trade, CohBar Inc (NASDAQ:CWBR) which lost 32.64% to settle at 0.970 and Sphere 3D Corp (NASDAQ:ANY) which was down 28.89% to 1.9200 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1850 to 1192 and 98 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1701 fell and 1112 advanced, while 64 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.63% to 23.27.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 2.04% or 39.30 to $1962.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.16% or 0.07 to hit $43.42 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.19% or 0.09 to trade at $46.29 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1831, while USD/JPY rose 0.01% to 105.99.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.13% at 92.900.