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 rose 0.80%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.28%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.76%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 3.02% or 6.92 points to trade at 235.77 at the close. Meanwhile, Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) added 2.60% or 8.35 points to end at 328.98 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 2.11% or 2.76 points to 133.49 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which fell 1.84% or 0.77 points to trade at 41.18 at the close. Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) declined 1.76% or 2.59 points to end at 144.85 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was down 0.81% or 1.23 points to 150.66.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc (NYSE:BIO) which rose 6.51% to 461.09, Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) which was up 6.11% to settle at 134.69 and SolarEdge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG) which gained 5.84% to close at 302.15.
The worst performers were Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE:TFX) which was down 7.60% to 239.77 in late trade, DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:DXCM) which lost 4.26% to settle at 106.16 and Intuitive Surgical Inc (NASDAQ:ISRG) which was down 4.20% to 259.96 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Atlis Motor Vehicles Inc (NASDAQ:AMV) which rose 276.12% to 10.08, Broadwind Energy Inc (NASDAQ:BWEN) which was up 96.90% to settle at 4.45 and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ:BBBY) which gained 68.60% to close at 3.49.
The worst performers were Tantech Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:TANH) which was down 28.10% to 2.20 in late trade, American Virtual Cloud Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AVCT) which lost 24.65% to settle at 1.07 and Kala Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KALA) which was down 20.27% to 21.00 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2342 to 730 and 95 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2505 rose and 1243 declined, while 134 ended unchanged.
Shares in Broadwind Energy Inc (NASDAQ:BWEN) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 96.90% or 2.19 to 4.45.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.48% to 21.09.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.23% or 4.35 to $1,880.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 3.31% or 2.49 to hit $77.61 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 3.47% or 2.78 to trade at $82.88 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.21% to 1.08, while USD/JPY rose 0.14% to 132.43.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 102.97.