Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Telecoms, Utilities and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.70%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.22%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.08%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which rose 8.46% or 10.37 points to trade at 132.89 at the close. United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) added 5.38% or 5.98 points to end at 117.04 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was up 4.87% or 4.40 points to 94.84 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM), which lost 0.82% or 0.59 points to trade at 71.30 in late trade. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) declined 0.85% or 0.95 points to end at 111.39 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) shed 0.75% or 1.04 points to 137.01.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) which rose 12.69% to 229.51, Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) which was up 10.73% to settle at 29.40 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) which gained 8.46% to close at 132.89.
The worst performers were Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE:COF) which was down 6.24% to 78.20 in late trade, Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) which lost 5.06% to settle at 119.83 and EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) which was down 4.70% to 19.05 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were SPI Energy Co Ltd (NASDAQ:SPI) which rose 194.36% to 2.87, Boxlight Corp Class A (NASDAQ:BOXL) which was up 34.58% to settle at 3.23 and Blink Charging Co (NASDAQ:BLNK) which gained 28.57% to close at 2.2500.
The worst performers were Avalon Globocare Corp (NASDAQ:AVCO) which was down 63.35% to 4.600 in late trade, Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:BLPH) which lost 23.91% to settle at 0.670 and Internet Gold Golden Lines Ltd (NASDAQ:IGLD) which was down 22.85% to 0.64 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1533 to 1473 and 125 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1380 fell and 1228 advanced, while 93 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.15% to 19.52.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.11% or 1.35 to $1282.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.68% or 0.36 to hit $52.65 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.55% or 0.34 to trade at $61.16 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.21% to 1.1381, while USD/JPY rose 0.21% to 109.59.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 95.795.