Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Industrials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.68% to hit a new 3-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.91%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.17%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 2.94% or 3.17 points to trade at 110.83 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) added 2.16% or 1.63 points to end at 77.16 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was up 1.86% or 2.61 points to 142.64 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which lost 1.16% or 0.60 points to trade at 50.91 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 0.66% or 2.35 points to end at 355.92 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shed 0.57% or 0.74 points to 128.62.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were FLIR Systems Inc (NASDAQ:FLIR) which rose 11.79% to 58.59, Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) which was up 11.33% to settle at 33.21 and HCA Holdings Inc (NYSE:HCA) which gained 9.22% to close at 118.13.
The worst performers were Navient Corp (NASDAQ:NAVI) which was down 6.60% to 13.17 in late trade, Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) which lost 6.54% to settle at 295.50 and Pentair PLC (NYSE:PNR) which was down 5.14% to 41.91 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were resTORbio Inc (NASDAQ:TORC) which rose 49.50% to 13.47, ViewRay Inc (NASDAQ:VRAY) which was up 25.65% to settle at 12.000 and Attunity Ltd (NASDAQ:ATTU) which gained 25.00% to close at 15.900.
The worst performers were Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (NASDAQ:HMNY) which was down 50.12% to 10.600 in late trade, Agile Thrpe (NASDAQ:AGRX) which lost 36.97% to settle at 0.29 and Biostar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:BSPM) which was down 36.18% to 1.3338 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1880 to 1161 and 135 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1375 rose and 1156 declined, while 139 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.61% to 12.21.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.50% or 6.10 to $1231.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 1.18% or 0.81 to hit $69.33 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.89% or 0.65 to trade at $74.09 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.33% to 1.1726, while USD/JPY fell 0.18% to 110.99.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.41% at 94.00.