U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.82%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.82%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.82%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.64%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO ), which rose 2.86% or 1.52 points to trade at 54.75 at the close. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) added 2.17% or 2.67 points to end at 125.83 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG ) was up 1.96% or 2.05 points to 106.73 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA ), which lost 1.36% or 0.70 points to trade at 50.80 in late trade. International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM ) declined 0.90% or 1.20 points to end at 131.49 and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM ) shed 0.83% or 0.61 points to 72.98.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Pacific Gas & Electric Co (NYSE: PCG ) which rose 10.73% to 20.75, Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB ) which was up 10.02% to settle at 41.93 and Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE: CRM ) which gained 5.06% to close at 158.44.

The worst performers were Range Resources Corp (NYSE: RRC ) which was down 6.86% to 7.74 in late trade, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK ) which lost 6.47% to settle at 1.880 and Signet Jewelers Ltd (NYSE: SIG ) which was down 5.45% to 19.42 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Rewalk Robotics Ltd (NASDAQ: RWLK ) which rose 122.89% to 7.40, Naked Brand Group Ltd (NASDAQ: NAKD ) which was up 25.81% to settle at 0.377 and Workhorse Group Inc (NASDAQ: WKHS ) which gained 24.86% to close at 2.1600.

The worst performers were InflaRx N.V. (NASDAQ: IFRX ) which was down 91.79% to 3.06 in late trade, FuelCell Energy Inc (NASDAQ: FCEL ) which lost 33.33% to settle at 0.780 and Legacy Reserves Inc (NASDAQ: LGCY ) which was down 25.25% to 0.23 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1502 to 1480 and 111 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1599 fell and 1064 advanced, while 76 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.52% to 16.09.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.45% or 6.00 to $1334.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 3.29% or 1.76 to hit $51.72 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $60.51 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.1224, while USD/JPY fell 0.00% to 108.44.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.30% at 97.287.