Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Consumer Services, Basic Materials and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.01%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.12%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 2.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 3.74% or 6.59 points to trade at 182.87 at the close. Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 2.60% or 3.99 points to end at 157.22 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was up 2.31% or 4.05 points to 179.59 in late trade.
Biggest losers included JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which lost 3.22% or 4.24 points to trade at 127.30 in late trade. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) declined 0.67% or 1.23 points to end at 183.71 and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) gained 0.05% or 0.08 points to 148.66.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) which rose 10.62% to 18.95, Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) which was up 8.23% to settle at 14.46 and Host Hotels & Resorts Inc (NASDAQ:HST) which gained 8.12% to close at 19.70.
The worst performers were AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) which was down 4.19% to 158.95 in late trade, JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) which lost 3.22% to settle at 127.30 and PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) which was down 2.85% to 105.17 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Kaleido Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:KLDO) which rose 75.06% to 0.30, Antares Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:ATRS) which was up 49.20% to settle at 5.58 and Veru Inc (NASDAQ:VERU) which gained 42.86% to close at 14.30.
The worst performers were NanoString Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NSTG) which was down 33.63% to 21.87 in late trade, Polarityte Inc (NASDAQ:PTE) which lost 30.84% to settle at 0.27 and Crown Electrokinetics Corp. (NASDAQ:CRKN) which was down 19.63% to 1.31 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2442 to 795 and 124 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2913 rose and 955 declined, while 226 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 10.06% to 21.82.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.10% or 1.90 to $1,978.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 3.72% or 3.74 to hit $104.34 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 4.09% or 4.28 to trade at $108.92 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.58% to 1.09, while USD/JPY rose 0.24% to 125.64.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.39% at 99.90.