U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.40%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.40%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.96%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.30%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM), which rose 2.87% or 8.06 points to trade at 289.21 at the close. Meanwhile, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 2.39% or 1.03 points to end at 44.19 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) was up 1.29% or 0.64 points to 50.28 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which fell 0.60% or 1.22 points to trade at 203.24 at the close. Johnson&Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) declined 0.51% or 0.80 points to end at 155.67 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was down 0.48% or 0.89 points to 184.15.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) which rose 14.73% to 79.15, IQVIA Holdings Inc (NYSE:IQV) which was up 13.11% to settle at 243.49 and Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL) which gained 11.34% to close at 245.21.

The worst performers were Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AKAM) which was down 8.20% to 114.80 in late trade, MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) which lost 6.23% to settle at 42.81 and Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) which was down 5.45% to 34.16 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Datasea Inc (NASDAQ:DTSS) which rose 515.07% to 8.98, Earlyworks Co Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:ELWS) which was up 187.91% to settle at 1.31 and enGene Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ENGN) which gained 116.54% to close at 16.50.

The worst performers were Ohmyhome Ltd (NASDAQ:OMH) which was down 41.15% to 1.33 in late trade, Sunworks Inc (NASDAQ:SUNW) which lost 40.48% to settle at 0.06 and Nukkleus Inc (NASDAQ:NUKK) which was down 33.67% to 1.30 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2298 to 565 and 60 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2649 rose and 784 declined, while 89 ended unchanged.

Shares in Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) rose to all time highs; up 14.73% or 10.16 to 79.15. Shares in IQVIA Holdings Inc (NYSE:IQV) rose to 52-week highs; rising 13.11% or 28.22 to 243.49.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 9.27% to 14.38.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.18% or 3.65 to $2,003.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 1.64% or 1.28 to hit $76.59 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 1.49% or 1.23 to trade at $81.54 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.17% to 1.07, while USD/JPY fell 0.12% to 150.61.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.22% at 104.62.