Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Healthcare and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.08%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.63%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 2.15%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which rose 3.74% or 2.16 points to trade at 59.93 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 3.11% or 14.92 points to end at 494.38 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 2.85% or 4.97 points to 179.30 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 0.91% or 1.50 points to trade at 163.90 in late trade. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) declined 0.75% or 1.19 points to end at 157.94 and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) shed 0.57% or 0.66 points to 115.56.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) which rose 10.39% to 275.28, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which was up 8.04% to settle at 146.50 and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which gained 7.49% to close at 304.59.
The worst performers were Nucor Corp (NYSE:NUE) which was down 8.61% to 108.22 in late trade, Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) which lost 6.04% to settle at 104.94 and Newmont Goldcorp Corp (NYSE:NEM) which was down 3.45% to 54.23 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Theseus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:THRX) which rose 34.12% to 12.58, CMC Materials Inc (NASDAQ:CCMP) which was up 33.93% to settle at 195.50 and Biofrontera Inc (NASDAQ:BFRI) which gained 26.36% to close at 6.95.
The worst performers were ATAI Life Sciences BV (NASDAQ:ATAI) which was down 31.94% to 6.82 in late trade, Pulmatrix Inc (NASDAQ:PULM) which lost 31.58% to settle at 0.4851 and China Xiangtai Food Co Ltd (NASDAQ:PLIN) which was down 28.17% to 1.8100 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2151 to 1109 and 149 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2462 rose and 1332 declined, while 218 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 11.88% to 19.29.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.29% or 5.10 to $1777.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.05% or 0.74 to hit $71.47 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.01% or 0.01 to trade at $74.31 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.10% to 1.1297, while USD/JPY rose 0.01% to 114.04.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.25% at 96.293.