U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.19%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.19%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.73%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.21%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 5.10% or 10.34 points to trade at 213.26 at the close. Meanwhile, Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 4.08% or 4.05 points to end at 103.36 and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) was up 4.03% or 8.61 points to 222.36 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN), which fell 5.10% or 15.30 points to trade at 284.78 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 2.66% or 3.15 points to end at 115.17 and Unitedhealth Group (NYSE:UNH) was down 2.11% or 5.30 points to 245.70.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) which rose 17.52% to 138.82, Assurant Inc (NYSE:AIZ) which was up 11.28% to settle at 210.13 and Match Group Inc (NASDAQ:MTCH) which gained 10.50% to close at 37.27.

The worst performers were Super Micro Computer Inc (NASDAQ:SMCI) which was down 18.26% to 46.81 in late trade, NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) which lost 13.61% to settle at 148.56 and The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) which was down 13.31% to 30.93 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Safe & Green Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SGBX) which rose 89.86% to 0.37, Myriad Genetics Inc (NASDAQ:MYGN) which was up 46.90% to settle at 5.69 and Linkhome Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LHAI) which gained 45.94% to close at 7.37.

The worst performers were Earlyworks Co Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:ELWS) which was down 58.64% to 4.07 in late trade, Fractyl Health Inc (NASDAQ:GUTS) which lost 45.99% to settle at 1.01 and LifeMD Inc (NASDAQ:LFMD) which was down 44.93% to 6.52 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1387 to 1358 and 98 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1845 fell and 1443 advanced, while 170 ended unchanged.

Shares in Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) rose to all time highs; up 17.52% or 20.70 to 138.82.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.22% to 16.74.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.11% or 3.68 to $3,431.02 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 1.57% or 1.02 to hit $64.14 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 1.43% or 0.97 to trade at $66.67 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.72% to 1.17, while USD/JPY fell 0.22% to 147.25.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.57% at 98.01.