Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Industrials and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.92% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.84%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.06%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which rose 2.17% or 1.04 points to trade at 49.05 at the close. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) added 1.88% or 4.23 points to end at 228.82 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was up 1.84% or 4.51 points to 249.72 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which lost 0.39% or 0.36 points to trade at 91.18 in late trade. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) declined 0.39% or 0.27 points to end at 68.82 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) shed 0.15% or 0.06 points to 40.61.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) which rose 6.61% to 56.44, Fox Corp Class A (NASDAQ:FOXA) which was up 4.35% to settle at 39.1100 and Capri Holdings Ltd (NYSE:CPRI) which gained 4.07% to close at 37.31.
The worst performers were Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) which was down 7.83% to 46.72 in late trade, PPG Industries Inc (NYSE:PPG) which lost 2.55% to settle at 127.41 and Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which was down 2.37% to 286.14 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Aethlon Medical Inc (NASDAQ:AEMD) which rose 57.71% to 2.760, TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:TCON) which was up 46.76% to settle at 4.3000 and Internap Corp (NASDAQ:INAP) which gained 40.86% to close at 1.310.
The worst performers were Heat Biologics Inc (NASDAQ:HTBX) which was down 24.36% to 0.333 in late trade, Opera Ltd (NASDAQ:OPRA) which lost 18.74% to settle at 7.33 and KemPharm Inc (NASDAQ:KMPH) which was down 16.67% to 0.40 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2014 to 769 and 115 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1938 rose and 705 declined, while 62 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.81% to 12.32.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.09% or 1.45 to $1552.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.35% or 0.78 to hit $58.59 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to trade at $64.68 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.01% to 1.1137, while USD/JPY rose 0.02% to 110.17.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 97.060.