Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Utilities and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.06%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.06%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.48%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which rose 5.01% or 2.11 points to trade at 44.20 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 3.30% or 5.52 points to end at 172.89 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) was up 2.99% or 10.32 points to 355.17 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 1.68% or 3.85 points to trade at 224.93 in late trade. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) declined 0.43% or 0.06 points to end at 14.84 and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) shed 0.43% or 0.33 points to 76.13.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) which rose 9.19% to 52.97, CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL) which was up 8.24% to settle at 19.03 and Zoetis Inc (NYSE:ZTS) which gained 5.75% to close at 78.74.
The worst performers were NetApp Inc (NASDAQ:NTAP) which was down 7.35% to 56.18 in late trade, Equinix Inc (NASDAQ:EQIX) which lost 6.38% to settle at 408.03 and Omnicom Group Inc (NYSE:OMC) which was down 6.37% to 77.51 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Moleculin Biotech Inc (NASDAQ:MBRX) which rose 59.29% to 2.90, AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMAG) which was up 28.78% to settle at 17.90 and Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd (NASDAQ:GLMD) which gained 24.77% to close at 6.800.
The worst performers were Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CDMO) which was down 26.92% to 2.3750 in late trade, DelMar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:DMPI) which lost 18.66% to settle at 1.106 and FlexShopper Inc (NASDAQ:FPAY) which was down 18.44% to 2.985 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2126 to 1029 and 21 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1687 rose and 845 declined, while 86 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.93% to 19.44.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.07% or 1.00 to $1357.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.62% or 0.98 to hit $61.58 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.25% or 0.16 to trade at $64.52 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.45% to 1.2506, while USD/JPY fell 0.79% to 106.15.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.47% at 88.49.