Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Technology and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.40% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.64%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.84%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which rose 2.75% or 4.24 points to trade at 158.49 at the close. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) added 1.96% or 1.67 points to end at 86.70 and DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP) was up 1.60% or 1.15 points to 73.05 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which lost 3.39% or 1.59 points to trade at 45.26 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) declined 2.05% or 1.10 points to end at 52.43 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) shed 0.93% or 2.38 points to 253.29.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Scana Corporation (NYSE:SCG) which rose 22.59% to 47.65, Ulta Beauty Inc (NASDAQ:ULTA) which was up 6.75% to settle at 245.12 and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which gained 6.58% to close at 212.47.
The worst performers were Viacom B Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) which was down 3.98% to 29.95 in late trade, Dominion Resources Inc (NYSE:D) which lost 3.85% to settle at 77.19 and Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG) which was down 3.76% to 50.10 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were China HGS Real Estate Inc (NASDAQ:HGSH) which rose 96.00% to 2.450, Rex Energy Corp (NASDAQ:REXX) which was up 62.59% to settle at 2.2600 and Comstock Holding Companies Inc (NASDAQ:CHCI) which gained 29.41% to close at 2.200.
The worst performers were AquaBounty Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AQB) which was down 23.28% to 6.820 in late trade, InVivo Therapeutics Holdings (NASDAQ:NVIV) which lost 21.43% to settle at 0.71 and Chanticleer Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BURG) which was down 15.59% to 3.1400 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1815 to 1281 and 108 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1429 rose and 1110 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 6.76% to 9.11 a new all time low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.11% or 1.40 to $1314.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.37% or 1.43 to hit $61.80 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.01% or 1.34 to trade at $67.91 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.38% to 1.2012, while USD/JPY rose 0.19% to 112.49.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.38% at 91.91.