Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Healthcare and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.30% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.14%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.16%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which rose 0.97% or 1.51 points to trade at 157.92 at the close. Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) added 0.93% or 2.64 points to end at 286.54 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 0.91% or 2.70 points to 298.33 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 0.82% or 0.89 points to trade at 107.13 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 0.62% or 0.56 points to end at 90.39 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) shed 0.45% or 0.17 points to 37.31.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) which rose 3.49% to 100.73, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which was up 2.88% to settle at 873.98 and CarMax Inc (NYSE:KMX) which gained 2.39% to close at 78.00.
The worst performers were Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB) which was down 2.01% to 149.32 in late trade, Airbnb Inc (NASDAQ:ABNB) which lost 1.56% to settle at 136.55 and Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC) which was down 1.43% to 149.91 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Riskon International Inc (NASDAQ:ROI) which rose 205.40% to 0.43, Cingulate Inc (NASDAQ:CING) which was up 90.91% to settle at 3.99 and Cytokinetics Inc (NASDAQ:CYTK) which gained 82.56% to close at 83.45.
The worst performers were Ebix Inc (NASDAQ:EBIX) which was down 32.16% to 1.16 in late trade, Bluejay Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:BJDX) which lost 30.77% to settle at 1.80 and Brilliant Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:NUKK) which was down 28.77% to 2.60 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1699 to 1172 and 85 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1909 rose and 1512 declined, while 112 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.31% to 12.43.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.91% or 18.85 to $2,088.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 2.25% or 1.70 to hit $73.87 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 1.87% or 1.51 to trade at $79.34 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.55% to 1.11, while USD/JPY fell 0.39% to 141.83.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.47% at 100.63.