Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.54%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.10%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.59%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 3.80% or 4.07 points to trade at 111.30 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 3.31% or 1.09 points to end at 33.98 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 2.19% or 3.89 points to 181.12 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 2.67% or 2.71 points to trade at 98.75 in late trade. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) declined 0.90% or 1.49 points to end at 164.53 and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) shed 0.73% or 0.39 points to 53.40.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC) which rose 3.90% to 19.70, Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) which was up 3.80% to settle at 111.30 and Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) which gained 3.77% to close at 16.25.
The worst performers were Insulet Corporation (NASDAQ:PODD) which was down 4.66% to 188.52 in late trade, EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) which lost 3.80% to settle at 41.75 and CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE:CF) which was down 3.06% to 74.40 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were VCI Global Ltd (NASDAQ:VCIG) which rose 84.00% to 6.90, Mullen Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:MULN) which was up 68.07% to settle at 0.80 and AgileThought Inc (NASDAQ:AGIL) which gained 61.18% to close at 0.34.
The worst performers were Bruush Oral Care Inc Unit (NASDAQ:BRSH) which was down 50.14% to 1.73 in late trade, Orbital Infrastructure Group Inc (NASDAQ:OIG) which lost 33.52% to settle at 1.19 and Cuentas Inc (NASDAQ:CUEN) which was down 30.72% to 2.12 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2234 to 716 and 65 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2241 rose and 1238 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 down 5.83% to 15.98.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.02% or 19.55 to $1,945.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 1.39% or 1.11 to hit $78.53 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 1.36% or 1.14 to trade at $82.89 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.18% to 1.09, while USD/JPY fell 0.69% to 144.88.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.18% at 103.29.