U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.55%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology , Consumer Services and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.55%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 2.24%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 3.77%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ), which rose 5.06% or 9.10 points to trade at 188.99 at the close. Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE: CRM ) added 4.85% or 9.51 points to end at 205.65 and Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ) was up 4.84% or 5.78 points to 125.18 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA ), which lost 1.64% or 0.79 points to trade at 47.38 in late trade. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ) declined 0.87% or 1.54 points to end at 174.60 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) shed 0.71% or 0.56 points to 78.08.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were EPAM Systems Inc (NYSE: EPAM ) which rose 25.12% to 281.58, Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA ) which was up 14.34% to settle at 169.36 and Las Vegas Sands Corp (NYSE: LVS ) which gained 11.88% to close at 36.54.

The worst performers were NortonLifeLock Inc (NASDAQ: NLOK ) which was down 13.28% to 26.11 in late trade, CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE: CF ) which lost 7.15% to settle at 88.08 and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT ) which was down 6.10% to 421.32 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Sonnet Biotherapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: SONN ) which rose 86.73% to 0.51, VNET Group Inc DRC (NASDAQ: VNET ) which was up 83.25% to settle at 7.00 and Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ: KC ) which gained 72.27% to close at 5.53.

The worst performers were Tantech Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ: TANH ) which was down 68.84% to 0.50 in late trade, Incannex Healthcare Ltd ADR (NASDAQ: IXHL ) which lost 59.41% to settle at 13.80 and Blue Water Vaccines Inc (NASDAQ: BWV ) which was down 38.14% to 42.00 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2577 to 637 and 101 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 3132 rose and 719 declined, while 142 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 10.59% to 26.67.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.18% or 3.55 to $1,926.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 1.72% or 1.66 to hit $94.78 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.32% or 2.32 to trade at $97.59 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.76% to 1.10, while USD/JPY rose 0.39% to 118.75.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.71% at 98.36.