Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Healthcare and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.63%, while the S&P 500 index gained 2.39%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 3.76%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 10.37% or 33.32 points to trade at 354.67 at the close. Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) added 5.89% or 13.97 points to end at 251.10 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 5.16% or 3.97 points to 80.89 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 6.95% or 11.66 points to trade at 156.03 in late trade. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) declined 4.82% or 2.35 points to end at 46.38 and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) shed 2.83% or 4.68 points to 160.83.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which rose 40.78% to 347.75, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) which was up 14.15% to settle at 149.51 and Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI) which gained 14.11% to close at 209.82.
The worst performers were Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) which was down 9.90% to 135.29 in late trade, Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ:ZION) which lost 9.69% to settle at 31.12 and United Rentals Inc (NYSE:URI) which was down 9.58% to 182.15 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Aptevo Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:APVO) which rose 40.61% to 15.7900, Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which was up 40.78% to settle at 347.75 and Athira Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:ATHA) which gained 28.96% to close at 25.65.
The worst performers were Repro Med Systems Inc (NASDAQ:KRMD) which was down 31.40% to 4.21 in late trade, KBL Merger Corp IV (NASDAQ:KBLM) which lost 17.98% to settle at 6.43 and Tabula Rasa HealthCare Inc (NASDAQ:TRHC) which was down 16.47% to 30.98 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1564 to 1352 and 41 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1401 rose and 1311 declined, while 61 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 15.95% to 29.88.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.59% or 11.25 to $1899.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 3.69% or 1.39 to hit $39.05 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 3.60% or 1.43 to trade at $41.14 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.09% to 1.1722, while USD/JPY rose 0.03% to 104.50.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.12% at 93.445.