U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.28%

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Technology and Utilities sectors led shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.28% to hit a new 6-months high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.59%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.99%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which rose 2.78% or 2.67 points to trade at 98.88 at the close. Meanwhile, Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) added 2.04% or 3.05 points to end at 152.30 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) was up 1.36% or 2.35 points to 174.85 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN), which fell 1.27% or 3.65 points to trade at 283.40 at the close. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) declined 1.01% or 3.28 points to end at 321.60 and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) was down 0.89% or 1.65 points to 184.24.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) which rose 7.82% to 183.20, Deere&Company (NYSE:DE) which was up 5.03% to settle at 437.52 and Warner Bros Discovery Inc (NASDAQ:WBD) which gained 5.00% to close at 11.34.

The worst performers were Autodesk Inc (NASDAQ:ADSK) which was down 5.66% to 197.07 in late trade, Schlumberger NV (NYSE:SLB) which lost 4.08% to settle at 51.45 and CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE:CF) which was down 3.07% to 106.31 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Kalera PLC (NASDAQ:KAL) which rose 76.92% to 0.16, Venus Concept Inc (NASDAQ:VERO) which was up 59.96% to settle at 0.35 and Porch Group Inc (NASDAQ:PRCH) which gained 40.94% to close at 2.10.

The worst performers were BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ:BIOL) which was down 39.75% to 0.97 in late trade, Prenetics Global Ltd (NASDAQ:PRE) which lost 21.72% to settle at 1.73 and Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc ADR (NASDAQ:MFH) which was down 20.81% to 0.86 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1866 to 1198 and 112 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2262 rose and 1471 declined, while 195 ended unchanged.

Shares in BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ:BIOL) fell to all time lows; down 39.75% or 0.64 to 0.97. Shares in Prenetics Global Ltd (NASDAQ:PRE) fell to all time lows; falling 21.72% or 0.48 to 1.73.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.27% to 20.38 a new 3-months low.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.64% or 11.15 to $1,751.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 4.36% or 3.53 to hit $77.42 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 4.07% or 3.60 to trade at $84.76 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.93% to 1.04, while USD/JPY fell 1.20% to 139.54.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 1.05% at 105.99.