Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Financials, Industrials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.80%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.78%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.93%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V), which rose 3.66% or 7.36 points to trade at 208.72 at the close. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) added 3.49% or 4.84 points to end at 143.50 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was up 3.11% or 3.74 points to 124.18 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 2.59% or 8.75 points to trade at 329.14 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 1.68% or 1.30 points to end at 76.02 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shed 0.70% or 1.71 points to 241.29.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Align Technology Inc (NASDAQ:ALGN) which rose 12.47% to 614.29, Alliance Data Systems Corp (NYSE:ADS) which was up 9.21% to settle at 82.09 and L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which gained 9.01% to close at 47.92.
The worst performers were Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) which was down 8.97% to 147.74 in late trade, International Paper (NYSE:IP) which lost 7.74% to settle at 46.70 and Air Products and Chemicals Inc (NYSE:APD) which was down 7.45% to 256.00 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were ATA Inc (NASDAQ:AACG) which rose 834.56% to 12.710, Lizhi Inc (NASDAQ:LIZI) which was up 74.94% to settle at 14.87 and Cns Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNSP) which gained 75.48% to close at 3.65.
The worst performers were Tyme Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:TYME) which was down 34.84% to 2.300 in late trade, Koss Corporation (NASDAQ:KOSS) which lost 26.92% to settle at 18.700 and Cassava Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:SAVA) which was down 23.82% to 67.00 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2161 to 948 and 66 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2269 rose and 829 declined, 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 4.36% to 21.91.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 2.23% or 40.95 to $1794.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.11% or 0.62 to hit $56.31 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.32% or 0.19 to trade at $58.88 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.58% to 1.1965, while USD/JPY rose 0.51% to 105.55.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.48% at 91.537.