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

At the close at NYSE the gain was 0.11% and the index increased 0.28%. The index also climbed 0.23%.

Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE 🙂 was the best performer of the session, rising 1.27% to 2.99 points and closing at 239.83. Meanwhile, Nike Inc (NYSE: ) gained 1.27%, or 1.91 points, to finish at 152.21 Caterpillar In late trade, Inc (NYSE: ) rose 1.11% to 222.40 or 2.45 points

They were also the worst performers of the session. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE 🙂 dropped 3.16% or 12.74 to close at 390.31. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:) declined 0.85% or 1.46 points to end at 169.79 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:) was down 0.77% or 0.42 points to 53.91.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Coterra Energy Inc (NYSE:) which rose 6.07% to 22.54, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (NASDAQ:) which was up 5.15% to settle at 156.06 and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:) which gained 5.02% to close at 45.15.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated was the worst performer (NYSE:), which fell 6.80% to 147.14 late trade. Biogen Inc (NASDAQ;) lost 6.70% and settled at 225.34. T. Rowe Price Group Inc was also down (NASDAQ:), which closed down 6.63% at 180.83.

Electrocore LLC, NASDAQ:), which rose 64.3% to 0.8800 was among the top-performing companies on the NASDAQ Composite. Immuron Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:), which rose 49.61% and settled at 3.830 Surgepays Inc (NASDAQ:), which saw a 32.08% increase to close at 2.80

They were among the most disappointing. Avinger Inc (NASDAQ) was at 25.67% lower to 0.3571 during late trade. Dogness International Corp Class B (NASDAQ) lost 19.83% and settled at 2.9100. Nutriband Inc (NASDAQ) was at its lowest point of 17.30%, closing at 6.74

Stocks that are rising outnumbered those in decline on the New York Stock Exchange were 1669 to 1542. However, 144 finished unchanged. On the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 2301 was down and 1496 advanced while 199 ended unchanged.

Shares in Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:) rose to 5-year highs; up 5.02% or 2.16 to 45.15. Avinger Inc. (NASDAQ:), shares dropped to 52 week lows, down 25.67%. This is a drop of 0.1233 to 0.3571.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.29% to 17.62.

For February delivery, Gold Futures rose 0.40% to $1825.75 an ounce. In commodities trading, crude oil rose 1.55 percent to $82.77 per barrel in February. The March Brent oil contract traded at $84.80 per barrel.

EUR/USD was steady at 1.1442 at 0.00% while USD/JPY rose to 114.65 at 0.02%.

At 94.975, the US Dollar Index Futures fell 0.68%.