Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.43% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.26%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.19%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 6.43% or 17.23 points to trade at 285.20 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 5.71% or 20.70 points to end at 383.43 and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) was up 3.71% or 1.94 points to 54.27 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 2.64% or 14.50 points to trade at 534.51 in late trade. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) declined 2.63% or 3.91 points to end at 144.67 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shed 2.25% or 8.44 points to 365.93.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were SolarEdge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG) which rose 16.60% to 96.32, Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) which was up 11.72% to settle at 120.22 and Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:ZBRA) which gained 11.34% to close at 272.16.
The worst performers were Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE) which was down 7.77% to 75.00 in late trade, Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ:EXC) which lost 7.56% to settle at 37.90 and Arthur J Gallagher & Co (NYSE:AJG) which was down 7.42% to 227.01 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Freight Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:FRGT) which rose 122.03% to 0.60, Aileron Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ALRN) which was up 115.66% to settle at 5.37 and TPI Composites Inc (NASDAQ:TPIC) which gained 73.36% to close at 3.71.
The worst performers were Reneo Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RPHM) which was down 82.71% to 1.34 in late trade, Amtech Systems Inc (NASDAQ:ASYS) which lost 31.55% to settle at 4.10 and Virpax Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRPX) which was down 35.43% to 0.24 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2299 to 643 and 40 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2395 rose and 1073 declined, while 100 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.38% to 12.48.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 2.68% or 53.60 to $2,050.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 3.14% or 2.18 to hit $71.65 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 3.22% or 2.39 to trade at $76.65 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.07% to 1.10, while USD/JPY fell 0.72% to 141.85.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.87% at 101.58.