Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Financials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.79% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.47%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.28%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which rose 4.25% or 2.30 points to trade at 56.38 at the close. Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V) added 2.95% or 8.23 points to end at 287.52 and Unitedhealth Group (NYSE:UNH) was up 2.71% or 15.05 points to 571.34 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which lost 1.54% or 0.35 points to trade at 22.31 in late trade. Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) declined 1.06% or 3.46 points to end at 321.63 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 1.00% or 1.11 points to 110.42.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL) which rose 12.44% to 72.02, Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) which was up 6.79% to settle at 56.31 and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) which gained 6.49% to close at 119.50.
The worst performers were Agilent Technologies Inc (NYSE:A) which was down 3.78% to 139.11 in late trade, KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) which lost 3.55% to settle at 682.59 and Mettler-Toledo International Inc (NYSE:MTD) which was down 3.37% to 1,404.47 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Sharps Technology Inc (NASDAQ:STSS) which rose 2,191.37% to 3.24, 180 Life Sciences Corp (NASDAQ:ATNF) which was up 325.66% to settle at 6.47 and Versus Systems Inc (NASDAQ:VS) which gained 243.48% to close at 3.95.
The worst performers were NewGenIvf Group Ltd (NASDAQ:NIVF) which was down 37.76% to 1.22 in late trade, JIA DA CORP (NASDAQ:JDZG) which lost 35.14% to settle at 0.72 and Silvaco Group Inc (NASDAQ:SVCO) which was down 32.73% to 7.44 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2113 to 691 and 92 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2431 rose and 892 declined, while 111 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.14% to 19.58.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.40% or 10.80 to $2,689.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.16% or 0.11 to hit $70.69 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.35% or 0.26 to trade at $74.51 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.28% to 1.09, while USD/JPY rose 0.32% to 149.66.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.29% at 103.36.