Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Financials, Basic Materials and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.24% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.58%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.01%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 2.76% or 1.40 points to trade at 51.85 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 2.37% or 5.30 points to end at 228.66 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was up 2.06% or 1.56 points to 77.28 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 1.93% or 3.11 points to trade at 157.62 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 1.42% or 0.87 points to end at 60.26 and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) shed 1.31% or 0.93 points to 69.95.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) which rose 7.30% to 32.35, Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC) which was up 5.67% to settle at 38.42 and Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) which gained 5.36% to close at 12.29.
The worst performers were Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET) which was down 3.03% to 129.44 in late trade, Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which lost 2.35% to settle at 290.22 and Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) which was down 2.22% to 208.89 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Neovasc Inc (NASDAQ:NVCN) which rose 65.12% to 1.420, Vanguard Natural Resources LLC (NASDAQ:VNR) which was up 47.35% to settle at 1.340 and Biomerica Inc (NASDAQ:BMRA) which gained 38.10% to close at 2.900.
The worst performers were Interpace Diagnostics Group Inc (NASDAQ:IDXG) which was down 15.06% to 0.1190 in late trade, Euroseas Ltd (NASDAQ:ESEA) which lost 14.61% to settle at 1.870 and Hudson Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:HDSN) which was down 14.18% to 6.840 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2266 to 892 and 81 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1873 rose and 615 declined, while 144 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 13.74% to 12.18 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.47% or 5.55 to $1172.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 1.22% or 0.63 to hit $51.05 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.37% or 0.20 to trade at $54.26 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.94% to 1.0763, while USD/JPY rose 0.25% to 113.80.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.59% at 100.16.