Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Goods and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.18% to hit a new 6-month high, while the S&P 500 index added 3.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 4.41%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 6.16% or 14.81 points to trade at 255.14 at the close. Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) added 5.65% or 8.57 points to end at 160.25 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 4.86% or 6.86 points to 148.03 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 0.36% or 0.55 points to trade at 152.42 in late trade. 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) declined 0.13% or 0.16 points to end at 125.97 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) gained 0.55% or 1.29 points to 236.41.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Estee Lauder Companies Inc (NYSE:EL) which rose 9.70% to 235.79, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which was up 8.75% to settle at 305.53 and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) which gained 8.57% to close at 16.79.
The worst performers were NetApp Inc (NASDAQ:NTAP) which was down 5.82% to 67.61 in late trade, Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL) which lost 4.56% to settle at 228.57 and Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) which was down 2.47% to 47.00 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Biophytis (NASDAQ:BPTS) which rose 92.03% to 0.67, Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holding (NASDAQ:CRBP) which was up 60.08% to settle at 0.19 and Biodesix Inc (NASDAQ:BDSX) which gained 47.06% to close at 2.00.
The worst performers were Aeglea Bio Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AGLE) which was down 65.98% to 0.41 in late trade, CN Energy Group Inc (NASDAQ:CNEY) which lost 44.93% to settle at 0.82 and Pacifico Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:PAFO) which was down 42.81% to 5.41 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2686 to 440 and 115 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2904 rose and 876 declined, while 206 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.98% to 20.58.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 1.99% or 34.75 to $1,783.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 2.84% or 2.22 to hit $80.42 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 2.92% or 2.46 to trade at $86.71 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.76% to 1.04, while USD/JPY fell 0.44% to 138.07.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.75% at 105.96.