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 New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.67%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.92%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.47%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 2.19% or 1.02 points to trade at 47.61 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 1.87% or 2.42 points to end at 132.04 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 1.83% or 0.60 points to 33.71 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 0.56% or 0.58 points to trade at 102.84 in late trade. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) declined 0.28% or 0.24 points to end at 85.11 and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) shed 0.17% or 0.18 points to 103.11.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM) which rose 21.76% to 57.13, Tiffany & Co (NYSE:TIF) which was up 10.53% to settle at 94.54 and Avago Technologies Limited (NASDAQ:AVGO) which gained 7.76% to close at 141.49.
The worst performers were Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE:KORS) which was down 24.20% to 45.93 in late trade, Fossil Group Inc (NASDAQ:FOSL) which lost 6.48% to settle at 70.77 and Coach Inc (NYSE:COH) which was down 3.28% to 35.36 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ceres Inc (NASDAQ:CERE) which rose 74.40% to 2.930, Delcath Systems Inc (NASDAQ:DCTH) which was up 66.94% to settle at 1.420 and ATRM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ATRM) which gained 30.30% to close at 3.870.
The worst performers were Globeimmune (NASDAQ:GBIM) which was down 51.34% to 4.01 in late trade, Interphase Corporation (NASDAQ:INPH) which lost 21.34% to settle at 0.68 and FreeSeas Inc (NASDAQ:FREE) which was down 20.63% to 0.060 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2335 to 807 and 2 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1972 rose and 824 declined, while 4 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.83% to 13.24.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.03% or 0.40 to $1188.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.48% or 0.28 to hit $57.75 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 2.17% or 1.38 to trade at $62.34 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.29% to 1.0904, while USD/JPY rose 0.47% to 123.67.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 97.34.