Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.61%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.24%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.35%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which rose 2.42% or 2.36 points to trade at 99.68 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 2.40% or 2.27 points to end at 96.69 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 2.25% or 6.75 points to 306.68 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 2.83% or 4.83 points to trade at 166.01 in late trade. Raytheon Technologies Corp (NYSE:RTX) declined 2.62% or 1.60 points to end at 59.40 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 2.38% or 1.17 points to 48.07.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which rose 35.36% to 25.88, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which was up 12.54% to settle at 76.09 and CH Robinson Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:CHRW) which gained 9.33% to close at 95.28.
The worst performers were Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which was down 8.77% to 44.31 in late trade, Automatic Data Processing Inc (NASDAQ:ADP) which lost 6.50% to settle at 137.12 and Helmerich and Payne Inc (NYSE:HP) which was down 4.99% to 18.46 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Kandi Technologies Group Inc (NASDAQ:KNDI) which rose 140.83% to 9.32, Sonoma Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SNOA) which was up 51.70% to settle at 9.80 and Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ:BGFV) which gained 47.20% to close at 6.58.
The worst performers were Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SNSS) which was down 27.95% to 0.2851 in late trade, Alector Inc (NASDAQ:ALEC) which lost 23.57% to settle at 16.31 and Wilhelmina (NASDAQ:WHLM) which was down 20.70% to 4.52 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2418 to 649 and 68 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1818 rose and 962 declined, while 73 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.27% to 24.10 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 1.02% or 19.85 to $1964.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.66% or 0.27 to hit $41.31 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.07% or 0.03 to trade at $44.10 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.01% to 1.1789, while USD/JPY rose 0.02% to 104.94.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.44% at 93.235.