U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.79%

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Financials and Oil & Gas sectors led shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.79%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.86%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.62%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 5.35% or 9.78 points to trade at 192.61 at the close. Meanwhile, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 4.38% or 2.05 points to end at 48.87 and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) was up 3.62% or 2.07 points to 59.20 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V), which fell 0.23% or 0.49 points to trade at 208.48 at the close. Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 0.13% or 0.17 points to end at 136.16 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was up 0.31% or 0.48 points to 153.79.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were EPAM Systems Inc (NYSE:EPAM) which rose 16.08% to 245.17, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) which was up 10.25% to settle at 16.99 and Las Vegas Sands Corp (NYSE:LVS) which gained 10.17% to close at 44.40.

The worst performers were Charter Communications Inc (NASDAQ:CHTR) which was down 3.99% to 570.99 in late trade, Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) which lost 3.93% to settle at 163.89 and Dentsply Sirona Inc (NASDAQ:XRAY) which was down 3.46% to 52.48 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ecmoho Ltd (NASDAQ:MOHO) which rose 56.65% to 0.37, Imperial Petroleum Inc (NASDAQ:IMPP) which was up 39.19% to settle at 2.06 and Regulus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RGLS) which gained 35.56% to close at 0.31.

The worst performers were SAB Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SABS) which was down 39.87% to 2.76 in late trade, Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KPTI) which lost 39.75% to settle at 6.26 and Puhui Wealth Investment Management Co Ltd (NASDAQ:PHCF) which was down 36.08% to 0.84 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2431 to 796 and 119 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2597 rose and 1210 declined, while 230 ended unchanged.

Shares in SAB Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SABS) fell to all time lows; falling 39.87% or 1.83 to 2.76.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.74% to 30.74.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.67% or 13.00 to $1,930.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 7.71% or 7.97 to hit $111.38 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.45% or 0.52 to trade at $115.08 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.02% to 1.11, while USD/JPY rose 0.03% to 115.53.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 97.37.