Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Financials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.71%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.68%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.22%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 1.96% or 2.56 points to trade at 133.27 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 1.95% or 2.97 points to end at 155.20 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 1.76% or 6.95 points to 401.54 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which lost 4.40% or 3.39 points to trade at 73.70 in late trade. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) declined 2.13% or 4.94 points to end at 227.36 and Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) shed 1.06% or 2.52 points to 234.36.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Alliance Data Systems Corp (NYSE:ADS) which rose 10.12% to 118.75, DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) which was up 8.34% to settle at 45.06 and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) which gained 7.28% to close at 329.46.
The worst performers were eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) which was down 10.03% to 56.07 in late trade, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) which lost 9.45% to settle at 11.26 and Hologic Inc (NASDAQ:HOLX) which was down 8.49% to 66.25 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were ShiftPixy Inc (NASDAQ:PIXY) which rose 32.27% to 3.32, Ocular Therapeutix Inc (NASDAQ:OCUL) which was up 22.81% to settle at 19.17 and Galera Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:GRTX) which gained 22.69% to close at 8.11.
The worst performers were Adverum Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:ADVM) which was down 62.40% to 3.82 in late trade, Farmmi Inc (NASDAQ:FAMI) which lost 54.99% to settle at 0.3560 and Cara Therapeutic (NASDAQ:CARA) which was down 45.52% to 14.05 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1563 to 1438 and 94 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1815 fell and 1370 advanced, while 103 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 1.91% to 17.61.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.05% or 0.85 to $1773.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 1.72% or 1.10 to hit $64.96 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 1.83% or 1.22 to trade at $68.00 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.01% to 1.2124, while USD/JPY rose 0.27% to 108.89.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 90.608.