U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.09%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.09%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.01%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.08%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM), which rose 3.18% or 8.61 points to trade at 279.48 at the close. Unitedhealth Group (NYSE:UNH) added 1.54% or 9.01 points to end at 592.31 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was up 0.86% or 2.32 points to 270.92 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 6.77% or 6.03 points to trade at 83.10 in late trade. Merck&Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 2.32% or 2.66 points to end at 112.08 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 1.32% or 0.30 points to 22.39.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ:CZR) which rose 5.27% to 42.95, Super Micro Computer Inc (NASDAQ:SMCI) which was up 3.58% to settle at 42.00 and Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) which gained 3.18% to close at 279.48.

The worst performers were Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) which was down 11.79% to 246.49 in late trade, Conagra Brands Inc (NYSE:CAG) which lost 8.07% to settle at 30.08 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) which was down 6.77% to 83.10 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Sobr Safe Inc (NASDAQ:SOBR) which rose 9,452.09% to 6.40, American Rebel Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AREB) which was up 370.49% to settle at 3.93 and Kaixin Auto Holdings (NASDAQ:KXIN) which gained 171.43% to close at 0.34.

The worst performers were Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EGRX) which was down 39.89% to 2.14 in late trade, Aditx Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ADTX) which lost 39.24% to settle at 2.70 and New Horizon Aircraft Ltd (NASDAQ:HOVR) which was down 35.48% to 0.27 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1492 to 1301 and 98 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1693 fell and 1560 advanced, while 124 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.87% to 18.90.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.35% or 9.45 to $2,680.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.68% or 1.17 to hit $71.00 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.58% or 1.16 to trade at $74.72 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.16% to 1.10, while USD/JPY rose 2.01% to 146.44.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.43% at 101.36.