Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Goods and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.14%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.85%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.58%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 1.62% or 5.46 points to trade at 342.66 at the close. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) added 1.56% or 0.79 points to end at 51.53 and Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) was up 1.36% or 3.09 points to 230.37 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which lost 1.91% or 0.58 points to trade at 29.74 in late trade. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) declined 1.69% or 2.90 points to end at 168.22 and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) shed 1.33% or 2.13 points to 157.51.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were EPAM Systems Inc (NYSE:EPAM) which rose 4.82% to 244.65, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which was up 4.74% to settle at 459.83 and Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) which gained 4.72% to close at 124.54.
The worst performers were Progressive Corp (NYSE:PGR) which was down 13.12% to 114.78 in late trade, Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:LUV) which lost 3.92% to settle at 37.04 and Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) which was down 3.46% to 56.70 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were EdtechX Holdings Acquisition Corp II (NASDAQ:EDTX) which rose 202.94% to 43.23, Genesis Growth Tech Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:GGAA) which was up 81.26% to settle at 21.57 and Nikola Corp (NASDAQ:NKLA) which gained 60.87% to close at 2.22.
The worst performers were First Wave BioPharma Inc (NASDAQ:FWBI) which was down 32.46% to 0.90 in late trade, Healthcare Triangle Inc (NASDAQ:HCTI) which lost 30.65% to settle at 4.30 and SunCar Technology Group Inc (NASDAQ:SDA) which was down 30.09% to 8.18 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2058 to 889 and 105 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2238 rose and 1303 declined, while 147 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.52% to 13.61.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.15% or 2.95 to $1,964.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 2.01% or 1.52 to hit $77.27 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.95% or 1.56 to trade at $81.67 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.89% to 1.12, while USD/JPY fell 0.33% to 138.04.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.76% at 99.43.