Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Technology and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.06%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.47%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.78%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which rose 3.52% or 1.88 points to trade at 55.31 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) added 2.86% or 2.12 points to end at 76.16 and Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) was up 2.16% or 5.18 points to 244.70 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 3.78% or 8.88 points to trade at 225.77 in late trade. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) declined 2.43% or 9.29 points to end at 373.49 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) shed 1.56% or 2.54 points to 160.40.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) which rose 6.07% to 17.83, Align Technology Inc (NASDAQ:ALGN) which was up 4.49% to settle at 611.79 and Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) which gained 4.05% to close at 535.53.
The worst performers were Nielsen Holdings PLC (NYSE:NLSN) which was down 4.69% to 25.58 in late trade, SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SIVB) which lost 4.62% to settle at 566.79 and Macerich Company (NYSE:MAC) which was down 3.83% to 17.32 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Orphazyme (NASDAQ:ORPH) which rose 309.18% to 21.40, Galecto Inc (NASDAQ:GLTO) which was up 64.00% to settle at 8.20 and Trxade Group Inc (NASDAQ:MEDS) which gained 63.24% to close at 6.7.
The worst performers were Aethlon Medical Inc (NASDAQ:AEMD) which was down 36.70% to 6.830 in late trade, Ocugen, Inc (NASDAQ:OCGN) which lost 27.93% to settle at 6.7100 and KLX Energy Services Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:KLXE) which was down 24.87% to 10.15 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1612 to 1577 and 113 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1802 fell and 1669 advanced, while 152 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 10.01% to 16.10 a new 52-week low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.32% or 6.00 to $1901.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.31% or 0.22 to hit $70.18 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.26% or 0.19 to trade at $72.41 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.02% to 1.2175, while USD/JPY fell 0.27% to 109.31.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 90.047.