Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Consumer Services, Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.60%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.95%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.51%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which rose 3.14% or 4.88 points to trade at 160.51 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) added 2.23% or 2.66 points to end at 122.06 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) was up 1.96% or 5.65 points to 293.57 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which lost 1.64% or 2.42 points to trade at 145.21 in late trade. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) declined 0.98% or 1.78 points to end at 179.62 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 0.94% or 0.89 points to 93.75.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) which rose 12.46% to 10.65, Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY) which was up 8.97% to settle at 80.06 and Bath & Body Works Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) which gained 8.71% to close at 39.30.
The worst performers were Agilent Technologies Inc (NYSE:A) which was down 3.24% to 120.38 in late trade, Hologic Inc (NASDAQ:HOLX) which lost 3.05% to settle at 76.00 and Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) which was down 3.04% to 307.81 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Very Good Food Company Inc (NASDAQ:VGFC) which rose 118.20% to 0.29, Genocea Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:GNCA) which was up 51.07% to settle at 0.09 and 36Kr Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:KRKR) which gained 42.47% to close at 1.04.
The worst performers were Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRCA) which was down 63.85% to 2.01 in late trade, China Liberal Education Holdings (NASDAQ:CLEU) which lost 38.80% to settle at 1.53 and Enochian Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:ENOB) which was down 36.97% to 3.70 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2472 to 725 and 117 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2611 rose and 1177 declined, while 193 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.67% to 28.37.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.72% or 13.35 to $1,852.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.91% or 1.00 to hit $110.77 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.66% or 0.73 to trade at $111.42 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.56% to 1.07, while USD/JPY rose 0.38% to 127.29.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.30% at 102.18.