Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.68% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.64%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.00%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 3.49% or 15.36 points to trade at 455.61 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 2.52% or 3.21 points to end at 130.82 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was up 1.97% or 3.92 points to 203.18 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 1.19% or 2.08 points to trade at 172.20 in late trade. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) declined 1.16% or 1.34 points to end at 113.74 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 0.72% or 0.59 points to 81.05.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) which rose 10.41% to 18.46, Sealed Air Corporation (NYSE:SEE) which was up 8.76% to settle at 39.85 and The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) which gained 7.47% to close at 16.55.
The worst performers were Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) which was down 16.12% to 37.30 in late trade, ResMed Inc (NYSE:RMD) which lost 13.52% to settle at 175.52 and FLIR Systems Inc (NASDAQ:FLIR) which was down 12.54% to 37.46 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Aditx Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ADTX) which rose 93.38% to 7.60, American Virtual Cloud Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AVCT) which was up 72.52% to settle at 8.35 and Nova Lifestyle I (NASDAQ:NVFY) which gained 48.75% to close at 2.380.
The worst performers were Biofrontera AG ADR (NASDAQ:BFRA) which was down 38.40% to 16.51 in late trade, OraSure Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:OSUR) which lost 33.15% to settle at 13.09 and LightPath Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:LPTH) which was down 32.55% to 3.1500 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1544 to 1476 and 104 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1540 fell and 1230 advanced, while 60 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.48% to 22.65 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for October delivery was up 1.32% or 26.90 to $2064.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.57% or 0.24 to hit $41.95 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to trade at $45.12 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.01% to 1.1873, while USD/JPY fell 0.01% to 105.53.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 92.775.