U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 2.18%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.18% to hit a new 6-months high, while the S&P 500 index added 3.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 4.41%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 6.16% or 14.81 points to trade at 255.14 at the close. Meanwhile, Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) added 5.47% or 8.29 points to end at 159.97 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 4.86% or 6.86 points to 148.03 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which fell 0.36% or 0.55 points to trade at 152.42 at the close. 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) declined 0.13% or 0.16 points to end at 125.97 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 0.55% or 1.29 points to 236.41.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Estee Lauder Companies Inc (NYSE:EL) which rose 9.70% to 235.79, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which was up 8.75% to settle at 305.53 and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) which gained 8.57% to close at 16.79.

The worst performers were NetApp Inc (NASDAQ:NTAP) which was down 5.82% to 67.61 in late trade, Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL) which lost 4.60% to settle at 228.50 and Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) which was down 2.47% to 47.00 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Biophytis (NASDAQ:BPTS) which rose 92.03% to 0.67, Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holding (NASDAQ:CRBP) which was up 60.08% to settle at 0.19 and Biodesix Inc (NASDAQ:BDSX) which gained 47.06% to close at 2.00.

The worst performers were Aeglea Bio Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AGLE) which was down 65.98% to 0.41 in late trade, CN Energy Group Inc (NASDAQ:CNEY) which lost 44.93% to settle at 0.82 and Pacifico Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:PAFO) which was down 43.13% to 5.38 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2676 to 451 and 100 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2916 rose and 878 declined, while 170 ended unchanged.

Shares in CN Energy Group Inc (NASDAQ:CNEY) fell to all time lows; falling 44.93% or 0.67 to 0.82. Shares in Pacifico Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:PAFO) fell to all time lows; down 43.13% or 4.08 to 5.38.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.98% to 20.58.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 1.98% or 34.65 to $1,783.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 2.84% or 2.22 to hit $80.42 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 2.93% or 2.47 to trade at $86.72 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.76% to 1.04, while USD/JPY fell 0.43% to 138.09.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.75% at 105.96.