Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Healthcare and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.98%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.83%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.05%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 2.65% or 10.45 points to trade at 404.70 at the close. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) added 2.36% or 1.35 points to end at 58.51 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) was up 2.16% or 7.12 points to 337.48 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN), which lost 0.41% or 0.86 points to trade at 209.12 in late trade. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) declined 0.39% or 0.55 points to end at 141.81 and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) shed 0.34% or 0.60 points to 177.80.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which rose 8.23% to 34.32, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) which was up 5.45% to settle at 14.89 and Capri Holdings Ltd (NYSE:CPRI) which gained 5.14% to close at 50.95.
The worst performers were Pinnacle West Capital Corp (NYSE:PNW) which was down 8.07% to 68.19 in late trade, Lamb Weston Holdings Inc (NYSE:LW) which lost 6.61% to settle at 58.22 and Perrigo Company PLC (NYSE:PRGO) which was down 4.68% to 46.25 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Merus NV (NASDAQ:MRUS) which rose 37.45% to 27.49, New Fortress Energy LLC (NASDAQ:NFE) which was up 25.51% to settle at 33.26 and Nutriband Inc (NASDAQ:NTRB) which gained 23.31% to close at 7.83.
The worst performers were Prelude Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PRLD) which was down 39.75% to 17.34 in late trade, Osmotica Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ:OSMT) which lost 37.58% to settle at 1.910 and Oric Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ORIC) which was down 35.44% to 12.28 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2348 to 866 and 134 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2627 rose and 989 declined, while 162 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.95% to 19.54.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.33% or 5.75 to $1756.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.81% or 1.40 to hit $78.83 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.67% or 1.35 to trade at $82.43 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.01% to 1.1554, while USD/JPY rose 0.17% to 111.61.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 94.205.