Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Consumer Services and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.27%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.37%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.73%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which rose 3.22% or 2.42 points to trade at 77.54 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 1.53% or 2.59 points to end at 171.45 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 1.52% or 2.29 points to 152.54 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which lost 7.21% or 2.44 points to trade at 31.38 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 0.77% or 1.38 points to end at 177.40 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shed 0.45% or 0.39 points to 85.87.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) which rose 6.90% to 128.80, CarMax Inc (NYSE:KMX) which was up 6.15% to settle at 63.71 and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which gained 4.19% to close at 133.07.
The worst performers were Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) which was down 7.21% to 31.38 in late trade, Mallinckrodt (NYSE:MNK) which lost 3.54% to settle at 40.87 and Perrigo Co (NYSE:PRGO) which was down 3.52% to 70.50 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Glycomimetc (NASDAQ:GLYC) which rose 98.70% to 10.67, Aradigm Cor (NASDAQ:ARDM) which was up 32.98% to settle at 1.250 and SORL Auto Parts Inc (NASDAQ:SORL) which gained 24.50% to close at 6.910.
The worst performers were Endologix Inc (NASDAQ:ELGX) which was down 36.70% to 4.26 in late trade, Repros Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RPRX) which lost 35.07% to settle at 0.52 and Stein Mart Inc (NASDAQ:SMRT) which was down 33.53% to 1.13 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1611 to 1609 and 35 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1477 rose and 1020 declined, while 118 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.29% to 14.61.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.83% or 10.47 to $1248.23 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.55% or 0.27 to hit $49.34 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.54% or 0.28 to trade at $52.49 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.46% to 1.1108, while USD/JPY rose 0.53% to 111.42.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.40% at 97.73.