Wednesday was another positive day for the U.S. broad markets, with all major exchanges hitting a new record high. Although this is only the second trading day of 2018, the markets seem to be off to a running start. Crude oil pushed above $60, and with this breakthrough it looks to push even higher. The S&P 500 sectors were practically all positive. The best performing sectors were energy and health care, up 1.5% and 1.0%, respectively. The worst performing sector was utilities, down 0.7%.
Crude oil was up 2.2% at $61.72.
Gold was relatively flat at $1,317.20.
The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Wednesday was Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) which traded down about 4% at $45.08. The stock’s 52-week range is $33.23 to $47.64. Volume was just over 113 million versus the daily average of about 28 million shares.
The stock posting the largest daily percentage gain in the S&P 500 ahead of the close Wednesday was SCANA Corp. (NYSE: SCG) which rose over 22% to $47.71. The stock’s 52-week range is $37.10 to $73.81. Volume was about 19 million compared to its average volume of 2 million.
