Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Consumer Services and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.40%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.83%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 2.14%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which rose 3.39% or 3.95 points to trade at 120.55 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) added 3.17% or 3.33 points to end at 108.48 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) was up 2.74% or 7.93 points to 297.47 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), which lost 1.28% or 2.01 points to trade at 155.11 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) declined 0.05% or 0.02 points to end at 41.08 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) gained 0.11% or 0.20 points to 180.86.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were SolarEdge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG) which rose 11.85% to 311.36, Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) which was up 8.02% to settle at 316.31 and DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:DXCM) which gained 7.73% to close at 88.37.
The worst performers were APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) which was down 3.04% to 36.67 in late trade, Old Dominion Freight Line Inc (NASDAQ:ODFL) which lost 2.95% to settle at 263.98 and Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) which was down 2.85% to 28.68 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Imara Inc (NASDAQ:IMRA) which rose 71.79% to 2.01, Shuttle Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SHPH) which was up 27.72% to settle at 36.40 and Spero Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SPRO) which gained 26.55% to close at 1.43.
The worst performers were Cleantech Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:CLAQ) which was down 28.36% to 6.77 in late trade, Newage Inc (NASDAQ:NBEV) which lost 25.20% to settle at 0.09 and First Wave BioPharma Inc (NASDAQ:FWBI) which was down 23.22% to 3.24 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2400 to 723 and 131 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2715 rose and 1027 declined, while 217 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.44% to 24.64.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.92% or 15.70 to $1,728.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 5.96% or 5.18 to hit $81.70 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 5.70% or 5.29 to trade at $87.54 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.08% to 1.00, while USD/JPY rose 0.72% to 143.82.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.62% at 109.52.