Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Industrials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.77% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.55%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 2.20%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 6.83% or 10.57 points to trade at 165.25 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) added 6.25% or 22.81 points to end at 387.72 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 3.34% or 3.44 points to 106.38 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 1.98% or 1.91 points to trade at 94.80 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 0.69% or 0.77 points to end at 110.13 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) shed 0.22% or 0.40 points to 181.77.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which rose 19.95% to 23.09, Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) which was up 11.37% to settle at 179.39 and Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) which gained 9.11% to close at 297.56.
The worst performers were Juniper Networks Inc (NYSE:JNPR) which was down 7.58% to 25.83 in late trade, Franklin Resources Inc (NYSE:BEN) which lost 6.73% to settle at 29.09 and Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) which was down 4.45% to 272.57 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Co-Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:CODX) which rose 101.80% to 2.24, Alliance MMA Inc (NASDAQ:AMMA) which was up 61.62% to settle at 0.29 and One Horizon Group Inc (NASDAQ:OHGI) which gained 48.55% to close at 0.1585.
The worst performers were AC Immune Ltd (NASDAQ:ACIU) which was down 65.98% to 3.65 in late trade, Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SGYP) which lost 22.33% to settle at 0.313 and NF Energy Saving Corporation (NASDAQ:NFEC) which was down 21.51% to 6.7500 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2403 to 664 and 69 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1792 rose and 828 declined, while 86 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.68% to 17.66.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.73% or 9.50 to $1318.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.80% or 0.96 to hit $54.27 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.67% or 0.41 to trade at $61.61 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.47% to 1.1483, while USD/JPY fell 0.34% to 109.00.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.44% at 95.097.