U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.37%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.37% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index added 2.62%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 4.06%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 6.69% or 16.84 points to trade at 268.74 at the close. Meanwhile, Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) added 5.77% or 9.84 points to end at 180.30 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) was up 3.78% or 4.61 points to 126.59 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which fell 1.34% or 1.89 points to trade at 138.86 at the close. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) declined 1.18% or 1.90 points to end at 158.96 and Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V) was down 0.95% or 2.02 points to 210.47.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) which rose 17.89% to 254.77, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) which was up 14.70% to settle at 1,510.00 and PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) which gained 12.18% to close at 86.42.

The worst performers were Sherwin-Williams Co (NYSE:SHW) which was down 8.78% to 231.97 in late trade, Garmin Ltd (NYSE:GRMN) which lost 8.72% to settle at 93.56 and Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:TDY) which was down 7.01% to 372.01 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Blue Water Vaccines Inc (NASDAQ:BWV) which rose 53.17% to 3.14, Cryptyde Inc (NASDAQ:TYDE) which was up 43.70% to settle at 1.27 and QualTek Services Inc (NASDAQ:QTEK) which gained 37.78% to close at 1.35.

The worst performers were ObsEva SA (NASDAQ:OBSV) which was down 75.40% to 0.40 in late trade, Kalera PLC (NASDAQ:KAL) which lost 20.77% to settle at 2.48 and Burcon NutraScience Corp (NASDAQ:BRCN) which was down 18.06% to 0.59 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2573 to 519 and 108 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2854 rose and 916 declined, while 174 ended unchanged.

Shares in ObsEva SA (NASDAQ:OBSV) fell to all time lows; falling 75.40% or 1.21 to 0.40. Shares in Kalera PLC (NASDAQ:KAL) fell to all time lows; losing 20.77% or 0.65 to 2.48.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.87% to 23.24.

Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.86% or 14.80 to $1,732.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 3.35% or 3.18 to hit $98.16 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 3.00% or 2.98 to trade at $102.44 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.84% to 1.02, while USD/JPY fell 0.30% to 136.51.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.68% at 106.31.