Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Healthcare and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.82%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.83%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 2.46%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 4.29% or 4.62 points to trade at 112.34 at the close. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 3.68% or 1.54 points to end at 43.36 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) was up 3.02% or 3.41 points to 116.48 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which lost 0.17% or 0.13 points to trade at 78.06 in late trade. Visa Inc (NYSE:V) added 0.96% or 0.66 points to end at 69.62 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) gained 0.39% or 0.15 points to 38.90.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were H&R Block Inc (NYSE:HRB) which rose 7.50% to 35.42, American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) which was up 5.89% to settle at 41.51 and Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) which gained 5.07% to close at 45.99.
The worst performers were Ensco PLC (NYSE:ESV) which was down 4.13% to 16.24 in late trade, Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which lost 3.11% to settle at 16.21 and Dollar Tree Inc (NASDAQ:DLTR) which was down 2.96% to 67.59 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Wave Systems Corp (NASDAQ:WAVX) which rose 91.85% to 0.240, Liquid Hlgs (NASDAQ:LIQD) which was up 59.09% to settle at 0.105 and Synergetics USA Inc (NASDAQ:SURG) which gained 49.89% to close at 6.58.
The worst performers were Sfx Enterta (NASDAQ:SFXE) which was down 33.66% to 0.67 in late trade, Great Basin Scientific Inc (NASDAQ:GBSN) which lost 30.00% to settle at 0.21 and Code Rebel Corp (NASDAQ:CDRB) which was down 28.04% to 8.65 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1865 to 675 and 2 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1797 rose and 787 declined, while 23 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 17.10% to 26.03.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.54% or 6.10 to $1133.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 2.00% or 0.91 to hit $46.32 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 2.24% or 1.11 to trade at $50.67 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.71% to 1.1236, while USD/JPY rose 0.73% to 120.22.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.49% at 95.86.