Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.55%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 2.24%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 3.77%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 5.06% or 9.10 points to trade at 188.99 at the close. Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) added 4.85% or 9.51 points to end at 205.65 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) was up 4.84% or 5.78 points to 125.18 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which lost 1.64% or 0.79 points to trade at 47.38 in late trade. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) declined 0.87% or 1.54 points to end at 174.60 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 0.71% or 0.56 points to 78.08.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were EPAM Systems Inc (NYSE:EPAM) which rose 25.12% to 281.58, Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) which was up 14.34% to settle at 169.36 and Las Vegas Sands Corp (NYSE:LVS) which gained 11.88% to close at 36.54.
The worst performers were NortonLifeLock Inc (NASDAQ:NLOK) which was down 13.28% to 26.11 in late trade, CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE:CF) which lost 7.15% to settle at 88.08 and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) which was down 6.10% to 421.32 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Sonnet Biotherapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SONN) which rose 86.73% to 0.51, VNET Group Inc DRC (NASDAQ:VNET) which was up 83.25% to settle at 7.00 and Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:KC) which gained 72.27% to close at 5.53.
The worst performers were Tantech Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:TANH) which was down 68.84% to 0.50 in late trade, Incannex Healthcare Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:IXHL) which lost 59.41% to settle at 13.80 and Blue Water Vaccines Inc (NASDAQ:BWV) which was down 38.14% to 42.00 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2577 to 637 and 101 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 3132 rose and 719 declined, while 142 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 10.59% to 26.67.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.18% or 3.55 to $1,926.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 1.72% or 1.66 to hit $94.78 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.32% or 2.32 to trade at $97.59 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.76% to 1.10, while USD/JPY rose 0.39% to 118.75.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.71% at 98.36.