Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Financials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.03%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.34%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.86%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 3.17% or 2.09 points to trade at 67.96 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 2.76% or 7.05 points to end at 262.58 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) was up 2.66% or 4.01 points to 154.76 in late trade.
Biggest losers included McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which lost 1.48% or 2.41 points to trade at 159.99 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) declined 1.14% or 0.57 points to end at 49.51 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shed 1.01% or 0.82 points to 80.68.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) which rose 15.35% to 289.91, Interpublic Group of Companies Inc (NYSE:IPG) which was up 10.22% to settle at 24.49 and Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXN) which gained 8.10% to close at 123.20.
The worst performers were Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which was down 6.60% to 296.08 in late trade, HCP Inc (NYSE:HCP) which lost 2.94% to settle at 21.77 and PepsiCo Inc (NASDAQ:PEP) which was down 2.70% to 109.11 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Fossil Group Inc (NASDAQ:FOSL) which rose 87.72% to 16.97, Criteo Sa (NASDAQ:CRTO) which was up 29.33% to settle at 30.25 and ChinaCache International Holdings (NASDAQ:CCIH) which gained 27.34% to close at 1.63.
The worst performers were Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:TTPH) which was down 60.41% to 2.150 in late trade, Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd (NASDAQ:GLMD) which lost 42.39% to settle at 5.450 and Avinger Inc (NASDAQ:AVGR) which was down 41.20% to 1.57 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2181 to 954 and 85 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1884 rose and 641 declined, 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 22.87% to 19.26.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.74% or 23.20 to $1353.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 2.65% or 1.57 to hit $60.76 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 2.66% or 1.67 to trade at $64.39 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.83% to 1.2454, while USD/JPY fell 0.77% to 106.99.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.79% at 88.89.