Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Financials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.01%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.36%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.27%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which rose 4.59% or 6.56 points to trade at 149.63 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 1.14% or 2.31 points to end at 205.66 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 1.11% or 0.55 points to 49.94 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 2.33% or 6.21 points to trade at 260.44 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 2.28% or 8.41 points to end at 361.11 and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) shed 0.96% or 1.68 points to 172.99.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE:PM) which rose 8.12% to 87.63, KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) which was up 6.31% to settle at 133.41 and Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) which gained 5.82% to close at 174.13.
The worst performers were Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which was down 10.27% to 325.21 in late trade, United Rentals Inc (NYSE:URI) which lost 7.82% to settle at 121.21 and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was down 7.65% to 1.570 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Tarena Intl Adr (NASDAQ:TEDU) which rose 49.59% to 1.81, MYnd Analytics Inc (NASDAQ:EMMA) which was up 40.80% to settle at 9.80 and OUTLOOK THERAPEUTICS INC (NASDAQ:OTLK) which gained 34.87% to close at 2.63.
The worst performers were American Electric Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AETI) which was down 35.55% to 0.883 in late trade, Eagle Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:EGBN) which lost 26.75% to settle at 39.15 and Applied DNA Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:APDN) which was down 26.38% to 0.346 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1615 to 1385 and 26 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1451 rose and 1187 declined, while 104 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.15% to 13.53.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 1.70% or 24.20 to $1447.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.88% or 1.07 to hit $55.71 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.14% or 0.09 to trade at $62.47 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1278, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 107.30.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.53% at 96.343.