Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Oil & Gas and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.47%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.91%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 2.28%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which rose 3.45% or 2.63 points to trade at 78.88 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 2.99% or 0.88 points to end at 30.11 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was up 2.80% or 2.78 points to 102.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which lost 0.47% or 0.34 points to trade at 71.94 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) declined 0.05% or 0.02 points to end at 43.51 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) gained 0.06% or 0.06 points to 99.53.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) which rose 15.29% to 79.40, Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which was up 14.38% to settle at 69.28 and Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) which gained 13.56% to close at 118.16.
The worst performers were Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) which was down 5.69% to 28.50 in late trade, Navient Cor (NASDAQ:NAVI) which lost 3.35% to settle at 11.24 and Keurig Green Mountain Inc (NASDAQ:GMCR) which was down 2.92% to 52.14 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Lincoln Educational Services (NASDAQ:LINC) which rose 104.00% to 0.51, Recon Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:RCON) which was up 37.24% to settle at 0.859 and Esperion Th (NASDAQ:ESPR) which gained 28.70% to close at 23.59.
The worst performers were Dex Media Inc (NASDAQ:DXM) which was down 27.03% to 0.14 in late trade, Escalera Resources Co (NASDAQ:ESCR) which lost 20.05% to settle at 0.160 and Universal Truckload Services Inc (NASDAQ:UACL) which was down 18.91% to 15.57 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2027 to 507 and 4 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1874 rose and 693 declined, while 41 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.80% to 24.47.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 1.12% or 12.60 to $1114.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.35% or 0.16 to hit $45.39 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.59% or 0.28 to trade at $48.52 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.64% to 1.1178, while USD/JPY rose 0.12% to 119.89.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.36% at 96.41.