Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Telecoms and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.07%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.14%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.14%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which rose 1.89% or 1.00 points to trade at 53.84 at the close. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) added 1.35% or 1.44 points to end at 108.09 and Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V) was up 1.34% or 3.04 points to 229.67 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which lost 2.09% or 1.47 points to trade at 68.94 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 1.03% or 1.83 points to end at 177.00 and Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ:HON) shed 0.96% or 2.24 points to 230.71.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were TechnipFMC PLC (NYSE:FTI) which rose 10.14% to 9.88, Macerich Company (NYSE:MAC) which was up 9.10% to settle at 18.16 and Schlumberger NV (NYSE:SLB) which gained 7.74% to close at 35.48.
The worst performers were Nucor Corp (NYSE:NUE) which was down 5.15% to 105.04 in late trade, Tapestry Inc (NYSE:TPR) which lost 5.03% to settle at 42.71 and PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH) which was down 4.09% to 109.44 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Briacell Therapeutics Corp (NASDAQ:BCTX) which rose 93.71% to 6.16, Koss Corporation (NASDAQ:KOSS) which was up 67.54% to settle at 40.460 and Constellation Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNST) which gained 65.91% to close at 33.58.
The worst performers were Orbital Energy Group Inc (NASDAQ:OEG) which was down 31.15% to 5.260 in late trade, Progenity Inc (NASDAQ:PROG) which lost 23.08% to settle at 2.20 and ENGlobal Corporation (NASDAQ:ENG) which was down 20.83% to 2.8500 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1707 to 1496 and 101 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1796 fell and 1566 advanced, while 123 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.35% to 17.48.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.32% or 6.15 to $1911.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.46% or 0.99 to hit $68.71 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.41% or 0.99 to trade at $71.24 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.00% to 1.2210, while USD/JPY rose 0.10% to 109.56.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 89.905.