Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.12%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.52%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.90%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM), which rose 3.00% or 9.00 points to trade at 308.77 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 2.52% or 1.06 points to end at 43.05 and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) was up 2.08% or 3.60 points to 176.76 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 1.73% or 1.03 points to trade at 58.59 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 1.64% or 3.40 points to end at 203.60 and Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) shed 1.31% or 3.63 points to 273.83.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) which rose 14.43% to 35.28, FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC) which was up 9.98% to settle at 56.41 and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which gained 9.06% to close at 192.53.
The worst performers were Xcel Energy Inc (NASDAQ:XEL) which was down 8.64% to 52.69 in late trade, Bath & Body Works Inc. (NYSE:BBWI) which lost 5.42% to settle at 45.71 and Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) which was down 5.38% to 92.24 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Societal CDMO Inc (NASDAQ:SCTL) which rose 132.61% to 1.07, Enveric Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:ENVB) which was up 74.70% to settle at 1.45 and Sidus Space Inc (NASDAQ:SIDU) which gained 61.22% to close at 8.98.
The worst performers were JLong Group Ltd (NASDAQ:JL) which was down 84.38% to 2.00 in late trade, Kineta Inc (NASDAQ:KA) which lost 63.72% to settle at 0.82 and LivePerson Inc (NASDAQ:LPSN) which was down 47.08% to 1.27 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1958 to 905 and 64 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1947 rose and 1477 declined, while 93 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.18% to 13.40.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.46% or 9.45 to $2,052.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.33% or 0.26 to hit $78.28 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.22% or 0.18 to trade at $81.97 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.29% to 1.08, while USD/JPY fell 0.46% to 149.97.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 104.07.