Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Services and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.14%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.58%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.66%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 5.95% or 16.75 points to trade at 298.43 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 3.26% or 1.92 points to end at 60.79 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 3.00% or 5.16 points to 177.04 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 8.04% or 11.74 points to trade at 134.24 in late trade. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) declined 3.81% or 3.46 points to end at 87.33 and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) shed 3.29% or 1.33 points to 39.15.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) which rose 8.53% to 271.84, Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI) which was up 6.98% to settle at 195.35 and Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) which gained 6.72% to close at 377.31.
The worst performers were Macerich Company (NYSE:MAC) which was down 15.43% to 6.52 in late trade, Simon Property Group Inc (NYSE:SPG) which lost 13.26% to settle at 53.10 and Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE:KIM) which was down 12.67% to 8.48 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Taronis Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:TRNX) which rose 109.09% to 0.230, MoSys Inc (NASDAQ:MOSY) which was up 87.50% to settle at 2.550 and Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LTRPB) which gained 70.08% to close at 59.00.
The worst performers were Global Eagle Entertainment Inc (NASDAQ:ENT) which was down 26.51% to 2.6200 in late trade, Athersys Inc (NASDAQ:ATHX) which lost 26.45% to settle at 2.280 and InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:NVIV) which was down 21.67% to 1.4100 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1859 to 1040 and 53 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1492 fell and 1179 advanced, while 58 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.79% to 40.11.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.34% or 5.95 to $1734.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.81% or 0.16 to hit $19.71 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.32% or 0.09 to trade at $28.32 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.0839, while USD/JPY fell 0.01% to 107.92.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.65% at 100.130.