U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.40% By Investing.com

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

At the close in NYSE, the rose 1.40%, while the index climbed 1.83%, and the index gained 2.14%.

The best performers of the session on the were 3M Company (NYSE:), which rose 3.39% or 3.95 points to trade at 120.55 at the close. Meanwhile, Nike Inc (NYSE:) added 3.17% or 3.33 points to end at 108.48 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:) was up 2.74% or 7.93 points to 297.47 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Chevron Corp (NYSE:), which fell 1.28% or 2.01 points to trade at 155.11 at the close. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:) declined 0.05% or 0.02 points to end at 41.08 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:) was up 0.11% or 0.20 points to 180.86.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were SolarEdge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:) which rose 11.85% to 311.36, Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:) which was up 8.02% to settle at 316.31 and DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:) which gained 7.73% to close at 88.37.

The worst performers were APA Corporation (NASDAQ:) which was down 3.04% to 36.67 in late trade, Old Dominion Freight Line Inc (NASDAQ:) which lost 2.95% to settle at 263.98 and Halliburton Company (NYSE:) which was down 2.85% to 28.68 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Imara Inc (NASDAQ:) which rose 71.79% to 2.01, Shuttle Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:) which was up 27.72% to settle at 36.40 and Spero Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:) which gained 26.55% to close at 1.43.

The worst performers were Cleantech Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:) which was down 28.36% to 6.77 in late trade, Newage Inc (NASDAQ:) which lost 25.20% to settle at 0.09 and First Wave BioPharma Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 23.22% to 3.24 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2417 to 697 and 110 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2719 rose and 1031 declined, while 199 ended unchanged.

Shares in Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:) rose to all time highs; rising 8.02% or 23.49 to 316.31. Shares in Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:) fell to 5-year lows; falling 0.05% or 0.02 to 41.08. Shares in Cleantech Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:) fell to all time lows; down 28.36% or 2.68 to 6.77. Shares in Newage Inc (NASDAQ:) fell to all time lows; falling 25.20% or 0.03 to 0.09.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.44% to 24.64.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.92% or 15.75 to $1,728.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 6.00% or 5.21 to hit $81.67 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 5.73% or 5.32 to trade at $87.51 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 1.09% to 1.00, while USD/JPY rose 0.72% to 143.82.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.62% at 109.52.