Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Industrials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.90% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.66%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.23%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), which rose 2.62% or 0.79 points to trade at 30.96 at the close. Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) added 2.45% or 3.12 points to end at 130.70 and EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) was up 2.26% or 1.43 points to 64.59 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 0.79% or 0.54 points to trade at 67.45 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 0.79% or 0.41 points to end at 51.53 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shed 0.62% or 0.67 points to 106.74.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) which rose 11.83% to 161.34, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was up 9.11% to settle at 4.79 and Owens-Illinois Inc (NYSE:OI) which gained 8.41% to close at 16.24.
The worst performers were Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which was down 11.44% to 30.03 in late trade, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) which lost 5.75% to settle at 471.59 and Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) which was down 4.69% to 69.06 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Heat Biolog (NASDAQ:HTBX) which rose 156.76% to 1.90, Vitae Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VTAE) which was up 65.21% to settle at 6.79 and Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:RSTI) which gained 37.01% to close at 31.39.
The worst performers were Bio Blast Pharma Ltd (NASDAQ:ORPN) which was down 27.46% to 2.96 in late trade, Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc (NASDAQ:EGLE) which lost 22.87% to settle at 0.700 and The Joint Corp (NASDAQ:JYNT) which was down 22.90% to 3.03 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2634 to 729 and 24 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1740 rose and 837 declined, while 59 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.20% to 14.36 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 2.28% or 28.00 to $1257.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 4.60% or 1.77 to hit $40.23 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.68% or 1.08 to trade at $41.41 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.84% to 1.1319, while USD/JPY fell 1.00% to 111.43.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.96% at 94.78.