Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Technology and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4.98%, while the S&P 500 index added 4.96%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 5.84%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 7.21% or 4.91 points to trade at 73.01 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 7.04% or 10.34 points to end at 157.17 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was up 6.98% or 8.50 points to 130.23 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), which added 2.13% or 0.98 points to trade at 46.94 in late trade. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) added 2.20% or 3.75 points to end at 174.03 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) gained 2.62% or 1.39 points to 54.44.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which rose 26.59% to 2.190, Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE:NFX) which was up 12.54% to settle at 14.54 and Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) which gained 11.93% to close at 14.17.
The worst performers were Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which was down 0.14% to 34.53 in late trade, KKR & Co LP (F:KR51) which unchanged 0.00% to settle at 16.66 and Red Hat Inc (NYSE:RHT) which was up 0.43% to 173.70 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Aemetis Inc (NASDAQ:AMTX) which rose 36.80% to 0.7900, Integrated Media Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:IMTE) which was up 34.77% to settle at 5.93 and Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRCA) which gained 33.28% to close at 9.13.
The worst performers were Novus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:NVUS) which was down 25.49% to 1.5200 in late trade, Bio Path Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BPTH) which lost 24.73% to settle at 0.158 and PLx Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:PLXP) which was down 22.29% to 1.22 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2670 to 431 and 53 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2141 rose and 539 declined, while 55 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 14.05% to 30.41.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.18% or 2.25 to $1269.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 9.92% or 4.22 to hit $46.75 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 9.10% or 4.62 to trade at $55.39 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.34% to 1.1355, while USD/JPY rose 0.95% to 111.33.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.58% at 96.562.