Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Healthcare and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.27% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.11%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 1.94% or 4.62 points to trade at 242.90 at the close. Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 1.21% or 1.01 points to end at 84.39 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) was up 1.01% or 0.36 points to 35.86 in late trade.
Biggest losers included The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), which lost 0.95% or 1.25 points to trade at 130.00 in late trade. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) declined 0.93% or 1.18 points to end at 126.06 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) shed 0.50% or 0.23 points to 45.70.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) which rose 9.63% to 21.40, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was up 7.14% to settle at 3.600 and News Corp B (NASDAQ:NWS) which gained 4.84% to close at 16.25.
The worst performers were Viacom B Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) which was down 4.90% to 28.74 in late trade, Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) which lost 4.64% to settle at 14.19 and Red Hat Inc (NYSE:RHT) which was down 4.48% to 164.75 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Boxlight Corp Class A (NASDAQ:BOXL) which rose 77.44% to 11.80, Integrated Media Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:IMTE) which was up 61.83% to settle at 18.95 and ProPhase Labs Inc (NASDAQ:PRPH) which gained 26.76% to close at 5.210.
The worst performers were Ominto Inc (NASDAQ:OMNT) which was down 55.13% to 1.1800 in late trade, aTyr Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:LIFE) which lost 32.61% to settle at 1.550 and DHX Media Ltd (NASDAQ:DHXM) which was down 19.70% to 2.65 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1640 to 1428 and 120 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1402 fell and 1147 advanced, while 116 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.21% to 12.93.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.54% or 7.10 to $1313.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.57% or 0.40 to hit $71.10 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 1.71% or 1.32 to trade at $78.44 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.04% to 1.1936, while USD/JPY rose 0.22% to 109.64.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 92.50.