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 gained 1.43%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.88%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 2.24%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which rose 4.25% or 1.91 points to trade at 46.80 at the close. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) added 3.51% or 4.18 points to end at 123.28 and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) was up 2.69% or 1.90 points to 72.40 in late trade.
Biggest losers included 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which added 0.36% or 0.59 points to trade at 164.23 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 0.47% or 1.17 points to end at 247.62 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) gained 0.48% or 1.04 points to 217.87.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which rose 16.20% to 33.92, Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) which was up 12.30% to settle at 22.92 and Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB) which gained 8.71% to close at 73.48.
The worst performers were Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) which was down 8.58% to 28.22 in late trade, CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL) which lost 7.69% to settle at 10.69 and Perrigo Company PLC (NYSE:PRGO) which was down 6.68% to 47.10 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Avedro Inc (NASDAQ:AVDR) which rose 35.99% to 23.20, Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Ltd (NASDAQ:AOSL) which was up 29.32% to settle at 11.38 and Clearside Biomedical Inc (NASDAQ:CLSD) which gained 28.00% to close at 1.2800.
The worst performers were Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) which was down 35.01% to 5.83 in late trade, ICU Medical Inc (NASDAQ:ICUI) which lost 33.26% to settle at 163.96 and Zovio Inc (NASDAQ:ZVO) which was down 32.75% to 2.71 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2455 to 550 and 41 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1912 rose and 760 declined, while 76 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 13.24% to 16.91.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.46% or 7.05 to $1512.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 3.54% or 1.81 to hit $52.90 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.07% or 0.04 to trade at $57.74 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.13% to 1.1192, while USD/JPY fell 0.27% to 105.78.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 97.468.