Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.70%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.45%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.09%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 3.08% or 7.70 points to trade at 257.79 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 2.98% or 3.62 points to end at 125.30 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was up 2.28% or 3.88 points to 174.33 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM), which lost 0.96% or 2.23 points to trade at 228.94 in late trade. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) declined 0.73% or 1.63 points to end at 222.31 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) shed 0.44% or 0.20 points to 44.49.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) which rose 9.97% to 11.14, Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FANG) which was up 9.44% to settle at 48.21 and Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) which gained 8.16% to close at 6.83.
The worst performers were International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (NYSE:IFF) which was down 3.08% to 111.42 in late trade, MarketAxess Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MKTX) which lost 2.64% to settle at 574.75 and PulteGroup Inc (NYSE:PHM) which was down 2.18% to 44.42 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Yumanity Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:YMTX) which rose 1000.00% to 20.900, Ocugen, Inc (NASDAQ:OCGN) which was up 240.29% to settle at 2.7400 and Jaguar Health Inc (NASDAQ:JAGX) which gained 172.87% to close at 1.0800.
The worst performers were Cellectar Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CLRB) which was down 27.08% to 2.020 in late trade, Microvision Inc (NASDAQ:MVIS) which lost 27.18% to settle at 6.7500 and Aurora Mobile Ltd (NASDAQ:JG) which was down 19.83% to 3.840 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2227 to 851 and 89 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1905 rose and 1079 declined, while 80 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.80% to 22.34.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.23% or 4.35 to $1874.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.30% or 1.08 to hit $48.10 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.01% or 1.01 to trade at $51.17 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.13% to 1.2176, while USD/JPY fell 0.01% to 103.61.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.21% at 90.358.