Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Technology sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.82%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.70%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.70%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 2.37% or 3.74 points to trade at 161.25 at the close. Meanwhile, International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) added 2.28% or 3.38 points to end at 151.69 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 2.08% or 1.48 points to 72.57 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which fell 1.06% or 0.60 points to trade at 55.99 at the close. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) declined 0.56% or 0.69 points to end at 123.26 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was down 0.40% or 0.32 points to 79.06.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which rose 9.65% to 10.11, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was up 7.41% to settle at 4.35 and CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE:CF) which gained 6.76% to close at 29.52.
The worst performers were Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) which was down 5.17% to 35.59 in late trade, Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) which lost 3.98% to settle at 21.25 and Citrix Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CTXS) which was down 3.20% to 83.14 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Innocoll AG (NASDAQ:INNL) which rose 47.82% to 10.51, Opexa Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:OPXA) which was up 27.52% to settle at 3.290 and Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) which gained 26.63% to close at 23.350.
The worst performers were OXiGENE Inc (NASDAQ:OXGN) which was down 19.84% to 0.6717 in late trade, xG Technology Inc (NASDAQ:XGTI) which lost 15.68% to settle at 0.1500 and Euro Tech Holdings Company Limited (NASDAQ:CLWT) which was down 14.19% to 1.802 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2210 to 1091 and 38 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1580 rose and 963 declined, while 79 ended unchanged.
Shares in Euro Tech Holdings Company Limited (NASDAQ:CLWT) fell to 5-year lows; losing 14.19% or 0.298 to 1.802.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.33% to 13.94.
Gold for June delivery was down 0.39% or 4.85 to $1224.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 2.24% or 1.09 to hit $49.71 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 2.67% or 1.30 to trade at $49.91 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.12% to 1.1154, while USD/JPY rose 0.16% to 110.18.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.21% at 95.39.