Investing.com – United States stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Technology and Health Care sectors led shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.69%, while the S&P 500 index gained 2.03%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 2.12%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which rose 4.25% or 4.32 points to trade at 106.02 at the close. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 3.43% or 3.29 points to end at 99.14 and McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was up 3.30% or 2.93 points to 91.65 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which rose 0.34% or 0.52 points to trade at 151.93 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 0.46% or 0.41 points to end at 89.75 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) was up 0.59% or 0.67 points to 113.90.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Noble Energy Inc (NYSE:NBL) which rose 10.06% to 47.94, Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) which was up 9.41% to settle at 16.40 and Nabors Industries Ltd (NYSE:NBR) which gained 9.32% to close at 11.49.
The worst performers were XL Group plc (NYSE:XL) which was down 3.86% to 33.66 in late trade, FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) which lost 3.72% to settle at 167.78 and Expeditors International Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) which was down 2.35% to 43.22 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Auspex Pharma (NASDAQ:ASPX) which rose 99.80% to 50.13, Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ:VOLC) which was up 55.40% to settle at 17.86 and Digital River Inc (NASDAQ:DRIV) which gained 43.06% to close at 24.12.
The worst performers were Novogen Limited (NASDAQ:NVGN) which was down 41.45% to 3.150 in late trade and China Yida Holding Co (NASDAQ:CNYD) which lost 19.33% to settle at 2.630.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2627 to 173 and 1 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2259 rose and 514 declined, while 4 ended unchanged.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 17.52% to 19.44.
EUR/USD was down 1.37% to 1.2339, while USD/JPY rose 1.89% to 118.62.
The US Dollar Index was up 1.06% at 89.24.