Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials, Oil & Gas and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.61%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.38%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.01%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which rose 2.00% or 4.77 points to trade at 243.76 at the close. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) added 1.60% or 5.59 points to end at 355.66 and Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) was up 1.52% or 3.21 points to 214.09 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which lost 2.69% or 0.55 points to trade at 19.92 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 0.71% or 0.81 points to end at 113.58 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) shed 0.35% or 1.18 points to 337.62.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Kellanova (NYSE:K) which rose 7.76% to 80.28, Progressive Corp (NYSE:PGR) which was up 5.40% to settle at 234.34 and Allstate Corp (NYSE:ALL) which gained 5.23% to close at 180.95.
The worst performers were Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB) which was down 5.66% to 72.85 in late trade, VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC) which lost 5.45% to settle at 16.83 and Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) which was down 4.75% to 51.50 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Avalon Globocare Corp (NASDAQ:ALBT) which rose 87.53% to 0.48, Greenlane Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:GNLN) which was up 67.83% to settle at 16.80 and Digital Ally Inc (NASDAQ:DGLY) which gained 61.73% to close at 1.36.
The worst performers were Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRCA) which was down 40.80% to 3.12 in late trade, Ryvyl Inc (NASDAQ:RVYL) which lost 30.18% to settle at 1.27 and E-Home Household Service Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:EJH) which was down 30.13% to 0.10 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1556 to 1266 and 94 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2068 fell and 1249 advanced, while 127 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 10.65% to 16.19.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.88% or 22.00 to $2,485.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 1.58% or 1.24 to hit $77.11 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 1.08% or 0.87 to trade at $79.82 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.18% to 1.10, while USD/JPY rose 0.41% to 147.41.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 102.44.