U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.31%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.31%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.07%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 2.15%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP ), which rose 3.57% or 8.76 points to trade at 254.18 at the close. Meanwhile, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC ) added 3.48% or 0.66 points to end at 19.64 and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN ) was up 2.77% or 4.97 points to 184.52 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV ), which fell 3.16% or 7.55 points to trade at 231.30 at the close. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG ) declined 2.18% or 3.87 points to end at 173.92 and Unitedhealth Group (NYSE:UNH ) was down 1.55% or 9.28 points to 589.75.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR ) which rose 15.19% to 239.84, Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB ) which was up 13.58% to settle at 89.30 and The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES ) which gained 8.64% to close at 17.86.

The worst performers were Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM ) which was down 5.26% to 328.19 in late trade, Conagra Brands Inc (NYSE:CAG ) which lost 4.03% to settle at 31.47 and Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB ) which was down 3.84% to 49.14 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Allarity Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ALLR ) which rose 3,215.79% to 3.78, Utime Ltd (NASDAQ:WTO ) which was up 1,870.25% to settle at 0.79 and CN Energy Group Inc (NASDAQ:CNEY ) which gained 366.44% to close at 1.39.

The worst performers were Telesis Bio Inc (NASDAQ:TBIO ) which was down 55.26% to 1.70 in late trade, Laser Photonics Corp Unit (NASDAQ:LASE ) which lost 40.87% to settle at 5.41 and MDJM Ltd (NASDAQ:MDJH ) which was down 37.16% to 0.69 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1592 to 1197 and 112 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1735 rose and 1558 declined, while 136 ended unchanged.

Shares in Telesis Bio Inc (NASDAQ:TBIO ) fell to all time lows; losing 55.26% or 2.10 to 1.70. Shares in Utime Ltd (NASDAQ:WTO ) rose to all time lows; up 1,870.25% or 0.75 to 0.79. Shares in MDJM Ltd (NASDAQ:MDJH ) fell to all time lows; down 37.16% or 0.41 to 0.69.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.29% to 17.69.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.05% or 1.30 to $2,541.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 2.33% or 1.53 to hit $67.28 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 2.07% or 1.43 to trade at $70.62 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.03% to 1.10, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 142.40.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 101.70.

Source: Investing.com