U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.52%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas , Technology and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.52%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.67%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 2.08%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS ), which rose 4.85% or 5.55 points to trade at 119.92 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ) added 4.66% or 2.81 points to end at 63.10 and American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) was up 3.98% or 3.47 points to 90.73 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ), which lost 0.90% or 1.34 points to trade at 147.68 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) declined 0.85% or 0.66 points to end at 76.89 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ) shed 0.37% or 1.06 points to 287.99.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Arconic Inc (NYSE: ARNC ) which rose 13.02% to 10.50, MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM ) which was up 8.84% to settle at 16.50 and National Oilwell Varco Inc (NYSE: NOV ) which gained 7.97% to close at 13.00.

The worst performers were Becton Dickinson and Company (NYSE: BDX ) which was down 7.68% to 242.99 in late trade, Nordstrom Inc (NYSE: JWN ) which lost 4.13% to settle at 15.10 and Kohls Corp (NYSE: KSS ) which was down 3.91% to 16.70 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Phunware Inc (NASDAQ: PHUN ) which rose 134.43% to 1.570, Cinedigm Corp (NASDAQ: CIDM ) which was up 104.84% to settle at 1.2700 and Boxlight Corp Class A (NASDAQ: BOXL ) which gained 57.54% to close at 1.240.

The worst performers were Luckin Coffee (NASDAQ: LK ) which was down 35.76% to 2.82 in late trade, ShiftPixy Inc (NASDAQ: PIXY ) which lost 26.11% to settle at 7.16 and KemPharm Inc (NASDAQ: KMPH ) which was down 22.21% to 0.2060 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2330 to 559 and 47 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2113 rose and 582 declined, while 38 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.32% to 27.99.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.33% or 5.80 to $1751.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 4.82% or 1.54 to hit $33.50 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.03% or 0.01 to trade at $35.79 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.0980, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 107.56.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.20% at 99.170.