Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.00%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.65%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.38%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which rose 3.28% or 1.35 points to trade at 42.52 at the close. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) added 2.15% or 0.74 points to end at 35.08 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 1.98% or 4.42 points to 227.35 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which lost 0.74% or 0.96 points to trade at 128.68 in late trade. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) declined 0.50% or 0.73 points to end at 146.37 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shed 0.13% or 0.18 points to 135.56.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Cimarex Energy Co (NYSE:XEC) which rose 10.55% to 41.60, Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which was up 6.02% to settle at 9.33 and Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FANG) which gained 4.61% to close at 96.63.
The worst performers were Autodesk Inc (NASDAQ:ADSK) which was down 6.74% to 140.08 in late trade, Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT) which lost 3.72% to settle at 77.85 and ANSYS Inc (NASDAQ:ANSS) which was down 3.27% to 204.14 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ecology and Environment Inc (NASDAQ:EEI) which rose 48.52% to 15.06, MDJM Ltd (NASDAQ:MDJH) which was up 38.96% to settle at 3.46 and Intec Pharma Ltd (NASDAQ:NTEC) which gained 30.96% to close at 0.681.
The worst performers were Phibro Animal Health Corporation (NASDAQ:PAHC) which was down 31.14% to 21.74 in late trade, China Lending Corp (NASDAQ:CLDC) which lost 25.24% to settle at 0.44 and AstroNova Inc (NASDAQ:ALOT) which was down 20.71% to 16.08 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2123 to 832 and 96 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1835 rose and 805 declined, while 94 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.73% to 19.35.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.23% or 3.50 to $1548.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 1.77% or 0.97 to hit $55.90 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.07% or 0.04 to trade at $59.90 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1080, while USD/JPY fell 0.10% to 106.00.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.26% at 98.165.