Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Technology and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.07%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.40%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.64%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which rose 5.00% or 2.48 points to trade at 52.08 at the close. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) added 2.95% or 1.23 points to end at 42.89 and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) was up 2.47% or 1.80 points to 74.61 in late trade.
Biggest losers included General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), which lost 1.46% or 0.20 points to trade at 13.48 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 1.13% or 0.62 points to end at 54.47 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) shed 0.38% or 0.18 points to 47.82.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) which rose 6.50% to 106.87, Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) which was up 5.29% to settle at 16.13 and PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH) which gained 5.15% to close at 151.43.
The worst performers were Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE:ADS) which was down 4.07% to 212.86 in late trade, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) which lost 3.14% to settle at 65.47 and Universal Health Services Inc (NYSE:UHS) which was down 2.45% to 118.41 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Galectin Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:GALT) which rose 25.40% to 4.740, Zion Oil & Gas Inc (NASDAQ:ZN) which was up 20.20% to settle at 4.760 and Titan Machinery Inc (NASDAQ:TITN) which gained 19.29% to close at 23.56.
The worst performers were Neovasc Inc (NASDAQ:NVCN) which was down 49.12% to 0.061 in late trade, LongFin Corp Class A (NASDAQ:LFIN) which lost 48.80% to settle at 17.26 and Zosano Pharma Corp (NASDAQ:ZSAN) which was down 45.04% to 5.040 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2398 to 714 and 90 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1703 rose and 849 declined, while 123 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 12.20% to 20.08.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.06% or 0.80 to $1325.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.84% or 0.54 to hit $64.92 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.90% or 0.62 to trade at $69.38 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.07% to 1.2301, while USD/JPY fell 0.40% to 106.41.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 89.74.