Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Basic Materials and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.47% to hit a new 3-month high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.16%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.07%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which rose 3.14% or 2.86 points to trade at 93.93 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 3.04% or 1.20 points to end at 40.61 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) was up 2.18% or 0.46 points to 21.55 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which lost 0.80% or 0.82 points to trade at 101.35 in late trade. Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) declined 0.80% or 1.76 points to end at 219.42 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shed 0.46% or 0.70 points to 151.42.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) which rose 17.75% to 130.46, VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC) which was up 14.13% to settle at 17.77 and Catalent Inc (NYSE:CTLT) which gained 11.34% to close at 39.56.
The worst performers were Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX) which was down 5.57% to 349.34 in late trade, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) which lost 3.65% to settle at 588.54 and Constellation Energy Corp (NASDAQ:CEG) which was down 3.58% to 121.99 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Mira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MIRA) which rose 72.51% to 2.95, CISO Global Inc (NASDAQ:CISO) which was up 67.36% to settle at 0.16 and Heron Therapeuti (NASDAQ:HRTX) which gained 59.26% to close at 0.86.
The worst performers were Jaguar Global Growth Corporation I (NASDAQ:JGGC) which was down 76.02% to 1.70 in late trade, Chanson International Holding (NASDAQ:CHSN) which lost 34.98% to settle at 1.45 and Hanryu Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:HRYU) which was down 28.74% to 0.67 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1603 to 1298 and 80 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1986 rose and 1461 declined, while 134 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.14% to 14.18.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.16% or 3.05 to $1,963.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 2.10% or 1.64 to hit $76.62 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 1.79% or 1.48 to trade at $80.99 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.30% to 1.08, while USD/JPY rose 0.66% to 151.38.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.35% at 104.28.