Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials, Industrials and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.21% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.48%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.77%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which rose 7.33% or 6.91 points to trade at 101.23 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 6.94% or 13.60 points to end at 209.66 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) was up 5.79% or 5.55 points to 101.37 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 1.11% or 1.38 points to trade at 122.48 in late trade. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) declined 0.21% or 0.08 points to end at 37.41 and Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V) shed 0.21% or 0.40 points to 192.82.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) which rose 19.61% to 7.38, Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) which was up 18.37% to settle at 10.57 and Nordstrom Inc (NYSE:JWN) which gained 16.84% to close at 19.64.
The worst performers were Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT) which was down 4.64% to 131.15 in late trade, ResMed Inc (NYSE:RMD) which lost 4.22% to settle at 153.71 and MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) which was down 3.37% to 315.17 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were GreenPro Capital Corp (NASDAQ:GRNQ) which rose 212.46% to 2.5800, Ascena Retail Group Inc (NASDAQ:ASNA) which was up 73.61% to settle at 2.33 and Mersana Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MRSN) which gained 69.05% to close at 18.19.
The worst performers were Centric Brands Inc (NASDAQ:CTRC) which was down 33.28% to 0.161 in late trade, Alcobra Ltd (NASDAQ:ARCT) which lost 28.99% to settle at 38.56 and La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co (NASDAQ:LJPC) which was down 26.35% to 5.03 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2341 to 558 and 44 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1815 rose and 859 declined, while 53 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.39% to 27.62.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.15% or 2.50 to $1708.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 6.26% or 2.15 to hit $32.20 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.15% or 0.05 to trade at $34.19 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.05% to 1.1009, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 107.72.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 98.948.