Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Services and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.09%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.28%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.40%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 2.78% or 6.59 points to trade at 243.75 at the close. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) added 2.38% or 1.30 points to end at 55.95 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 1.47% or 1.92 points to 132.10 in late trade.
Biggest losers included International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which lost 5.48% or 7.79 points to trade at 134.25 in late trade. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) declined 1.44% or 2.05 points to end at 140.54 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 1.08% or 0.56 points to 51.88.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Dover Corporation (NYSE:DOV) which rose 5.87% to 101.40, United Rentals Inc (NYSE:URI) which was up 5.21% to settle at 127.92 and Cardinal Health Inc (NYSE:CAH) which gained 4.44% to close at 51.25.
The worst performers were Textron Inc (NYSE:TXT) which was down 5.53% to 47.79 in late trade, International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) which lost 5.48% to settle at 134.25 and M&T Bank Corp (NYSE:MTB) which was down 4.42% to 152.10 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Professional Diversity Network Inc (NASDAQ:IPDN) which rose 56.19% to 1.6400, ContraVir Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:HEPA) which was up 45.90% to settle at 3.5600 and Piedmont Lithium Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:PLL) which gained 38.62% to close at 9.01.
The worst performers were Provident Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVBC) which was down 51.06% to 10.82 in late trade, Bionano Genomics Inc (NASDAQ:BNGO) which lost 50.18% to settle at 1.37 and Waitr Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:WTRH) which was down 44.43% to 0.62 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1828 to 940 and 124 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1638 rose and 798 declined, while 82 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.80% to 13.79.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.10% or 1.45 to $1495.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.35% or 0.72 to hit $54.08 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.07% or 0.04 to trade at $59.95 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1124, while USD/JPY rose 0.01% to 108.67.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.41% at 97.322.