U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.70%

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

At the close in NYSE, the added 0.70%, while the index gained 0.91%, and the index added 1.02%.

The best performers of the session on the were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:), which rose 1.89% or 2.57 points to trade at 138.24 at the close. Meanwhile, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:) added 1.52% or 0.76 points to end at 50.48 and Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:) was up 1.43% or 2.46 points to 174.88 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:), which fell 1.99% or 2.62 points to trade at 129.22 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:) declined 0.26% or 0.52 points to end at 196.85 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:) was down 0.03% or 0.01 points to 52.08.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Hess Corporation (NYSE:) which rose 3.59% to 64.35, Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:) which was up 3.49% to settle at 94.61 and Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:) which gained 3.28% to close at 16.71.

The worst performers were L Brands Inc (NYSE:) which was down 2.94% to 17.18 in late trade, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:) which lost 1.99% to settle at 129.22 and Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE:) which was down 1.98% to 17.34 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Histogenics Corp (NASDAQ:) which rose 34.38% to 1.720, Paringa Resources Ltd (NASDAQ:) which was up 31.47% to settle at 2.59 and Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:) which gained 29.22% to close at 0.350.

The worst performers were James River Group Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:) which was down 22.60% to 37.88 in late trade, Loop Industries Inc (NASDAQ:) which lost 19.41% to settle at 10.3000 and Caladrius Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 14.77% to 2.0200 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1825 to 999 and 103 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1558 rose and 1056 declined, while 84 ended unchanged.

Shares in Caladrius Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:) fell to 3-years lows; down 14.77% or 0.3500 to 2.0200.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.09% to 18.64.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.46% or 6.90 to $1510.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $52.62 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $58.33 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.0974, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 107.50.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 98.840.

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