U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.21%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology , Utilities and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.21%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.32%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.64%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ), which rose 1.40% or 0.76 points to trade at 55.21 at the close. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD ) added 1.36% or 2.17 points to end at 161.62 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) was up 1.23% or 0.72 points to 59.17 in late trade.

Biggest losers included General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ), which lost 7.26% or 1.11 points to trade at 14.18 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS ) declined 1.13% or 1.18 points to end at 102.89 and American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) shed 0.75% or 0.77 points to 101.93.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Tiffany & Co (NYSE: TIF ) which rose 23.29% to 126.05, Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL ) which was up 14.34% to settle at 133.33 and Lowe’s Companies Inc (NYSE: LOW ) which gained 10.43% to close at 94.69.

The worst performers were Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE: HPE ) which was down 10.51% to 15.58 in late trade, General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ) which lost 7.26% to settle at 14.18 and Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT ) which was down 5.70% to 71.17 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Avinger Inc (NASDAQ: AVGR ) which rose 72.87% to 2.23, Cara Therapeutic (NASDAQ: CARA ) which was up 42.76% to settle at 16.56 and Yangtze River Port and Logistics Ltd (NASDAQ: YRIV ) which gained 31.28% to close at 7.05.

The worst performers were Forward Pharma A S (NASDAQ: FWP ) which was down 28.61% to 2.92 in late trade, Clementia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: CMTA ) which lost 20.88% to settle at 14.95 and Clean Diesel Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: CDTI ) which was down 19.26% to 0.8235 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1576 to 1462 and 142 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1387 rose and 1129 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 4.77% to 12.59 a new 3-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.12% or 1.50 to $1293.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.65% or 0.47 to hit $71.73 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.14% or 0.11 to trade at $79.68 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.70% to 1.1698, while USD/JPY fell 0.79% to 110.02.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.43% at 93.91.