Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Technology and Industrials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.30%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.41%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.47%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 1.51% or 4.35 points to trade at 293.11 at the close. Meanwhile, Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) added 1.33% or 1.86 points to end at 141.19 and Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) was up 1.29% or 3.50 points to 275.27 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which fell 3.28% or 1.94 points to trade at 57.16 at the close. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) declined 1.37% or 0.75 points to end at 53.94 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was down 1.15% or 0.94 points to 80.66.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Intercontinental Exchange Inc (NYSE:ICE) which rose 3.84% to 122.62, CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) which was up 3.53% to settle at 32.54 and Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) which gained 3.21% to close at 174.71.
The worst performers were Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) which was down 6.95% to 134.07 in late trade, Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) which lost 5.95% to settle at 16.12 and Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which was down 5.33% to 80.61 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Voyager Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VYGR) which rose 56.68% to 3.870, Grom Social Enterprises Inc (NASDAQ:GROM) which was up 48.35% to settle at 4.940 and Nextplay Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NXTP) which gained 28.24% to close at 1.680.
The worst performers were DatChat Inc (NASDAQ:DATS) which was down 17.08% to 7.38 in late trade, ACON S2 Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:STWO) which lost 16.11% to settle at 7.500 and Erasca Inc (NASDAQ:ERAS) which was down 16.04% to 19.10 at the close.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1793 to 1393 and 131 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2187 fell and 1340 advanced, while 151 ended unchanged.
Shares in Intercontinental Exchange Inc (NYSE:ICE) rose to all time highs; up 3.84% or 4.54 to 122.62. Shares in ACON S2 Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:STWO) fell to all time lows; falling 16.11% or 1.440 to 7.500.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.41% to 21.00.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.22% or 3.85 to $1764.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 2.34% or 1.85 to hit $77.08 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 2.10% or 1.73 to trade at $80.83 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.32% to 1.1559, while USD/JPY fell 0.04% to 111.40.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.46% at 94.215.