Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Industrials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.61%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.62%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.05%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 4.16% or 3.63 points to trade at 90.81 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 2.41% or 1.20 points to end at 51.02 and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) was up 2.32% or 1.08 points to 47.68 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 1.26% or 2.83 points to trade at 222.17 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 0.60% or 0.50 points to end at 83.10 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shed 0.48% or 0.59 points to 123.02.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC) which rose 8.42% to 60.15, Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) which was up 5.74% to settle at 266.62 and Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE:PM) which gained 5.20% to close at 75.28.
The worst performers were SBA Communications Corp (NASDAQ:SBAC) which was down 3.44% to 246.01 in late trade, Cimarex Energy Co (NYSE:XEC) which lost 2.68% to settle at 46.89 and Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) which was down 2.65% to 267.69 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PHAS) which rose 23.79% to 4.84, IRSA Propiedades Comerciales SA ADR (NASDAQ:IRCP) which was up 23.05% to settle at 14.950 and Comtech Telecommunications Corp (NASDAQ:CMTL) which gained 17.27% to close at 34.97.
The worst performers were Titan Medical Inc (NASDAQ:TMDI) which was down 42.72% to 1.1800 in late trade, Vaxart Inc (NASDAQ:VXRT) which lost 37.81% to settle at 0.305 and Electrocore LLC (NASDAQ:ECOR) which was down 23.51% to 2.57 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1802 to 1057 and 96 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1577 rose and 1060 declined, while 85 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.39% to 15.96.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 1.91% or 29.40 to $1510.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 1.22% or 0.70 to hit $56.59 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to trade at $62.55 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.0945, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 107.73.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.72% at 98.632.