Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.68%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.13%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.43%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 5.30% or 14.89 points to trade at 295.73 at the close. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) added 4.84% or 7.22 points to end at 156.33 and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) was up 4.60% or 2.76 points to 62.73 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which lost 2.86% or 2.53 points to trade at 85.83 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 2.32% or 3.36 points to end at 141.37 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) shed 0.83% or 0.84 points to 100.54.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which rose 17.50% to 332.87, Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which was up 14.47% to settle at 12.18 and Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) which gained 9.26% to close at 30.21.
The worst performers were Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) which was down 9.48% to 8.31 in late trade, Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which lost 7.19% to settle at 54.73 and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (NASDAQ:TTWO) which was down 4.86% to 120.76 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Vivus Inc (NASDAQ:VVUS) which rose 46.96% to 3.380, Puma Biotechnology Inc (NASDAQ:PBYI) which was up 37.67% to settle at 14.56 and Wah Fu Education Group Ltd (NASDAQ:WAFU) which gained 34.97% to close at 2.470.
The worst performers were Lmp Automotive Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LMPX) which was down 27.59% to 26.80 in late trade, PC Connection Inc (NASDAQ:CNXN) which lost 25.13% to settle at 39.40 and RAPT Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RAPT) which was down 24.46% to 32.00 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2176 to 634 and 78 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1878 rose and 763 declined, while 63 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.48% to 15.17.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.27% or 4.25 to $1559.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 3.18% or 1.58 to hit $51.19 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.04% or 0.02 to trade at $55.61 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.0999, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 109.78.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.33% at 98.127.