Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Technology and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.94% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.65%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.90%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 4.36% or 12.69 points to trade at 303.48 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) added 2.98% or 2.98 points to end at 103.00 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) was up 2.79% or 1.48 points to 54.47 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which lost 2.35% or 2.00 points to trade at 83.25 in late trade. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) declined 1.22% or 1.67 points to end at 135.71 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) shed 0.92% or 0.35 points to 37.74.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Interpublic Group of Companies Inc (NYSE:IPG) which rose 7.44% to 24.98, Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) which was up 5.75% to settle at 296.00 and Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) which gained 4.80% to close at 23.48.
The worst performers were Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) which was down 7.47% to 26.13 in late trade, ABIOMED Inc (NASDAQ:ABMD) which lost 5.05% to settle at 166.94 and Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) which was down 4.56% to 10.47 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Gemphire Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:NRBO) which rose 104.08% to 30.00, Canaan Inc (NASDAQ:CAN) which was up 82.73% to settle at 8.04 and Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:TTNP) which gained 27.19% to close at 0.2900.
The worst performers were Zosano Pharma Corp (NASDAQ:ZSAN) which was down 48.44% to 0.531 in late trade, Polarityte Inc (NASDAQ:PTE) which lost 47.17% to settle at 1.68 and Lianluo Smart Ltd (NASDAQ:LLIT) which was down 44.00% to 0.7392 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1784 to 996 and 102 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1596 rose and 1017 declined, while 92 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 9.49% to 13.74.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.06% or 1.00 to $1569.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 3.50% or 1.75 to hit $51.69 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.18% or 0.10 to trade at $56.29 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.0874, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 110.08.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.29% at 98.882.