U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.53%

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 0.53% to hit a new 3-months high, while the index climbed 0.41%, and the index added 0.46%.

The best performers of the session on the were 3M Company (NYSE:), which rose 1.47% or 1.38 points to trade at 95.37 at the close. Meanwhile, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:) added 1.28% or 4.78 points to end at 377.85 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:) was up 1.27% or 3.87 points to 309.21 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:), which fell 1.38% or 0.29 points to trade at 20.69 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:) declined 1.38% or 3.43 points to end at 245.98 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:) was down 0.76% or 1.18 points to 154.68.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were eBay Inc (NASDAQ:) which rose 3.09% to 41.64, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:) which was up 2.81% to settle at 122.51 and HP Inc (NYSE:) which gained 2.80% to close at 28.65.

The worst performers were Autodesk Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 6.90% to 202.66 in late trade, Deere & Company (NYSE:) which lost 3.11% to settle at 370.74 and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 2.90% to 234.21 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Impel Neuropharma Inc (NASDAQ:) which rose 143.44% to 0.78, AgileThought Inc (NASDAQ:) which was up 137.35% to settle at 0.20 and Presidio Property Trust (NASDAQ:) which gained 53.43% to close at 0.94.

The worst performers were Alpha Technology Group Ltd (NASDAQ:) which was down 32.65% to 13.80 in late trade, Entrada Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:) which lost 31.85% to settle at 11.36 and Hongli Group Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 30.19% to 3.70 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1845 to 1023 and 107 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2137 rose and 1296 declined, while 150 ended unchanged.

Shares in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:) rose to all time highs; rising 1.28% or 4.78 to 377.85.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.75% to 12.85 a new 1-month low.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.50% or 10.05 to $1,991.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 1.26% or 0.98 to hit $76.79 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.96% or 0.79 to trade at $81.66 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.18% to 1.09, while USD/JPY rose 0.83% to 149.62.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.31% at 103.77.