Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Technology and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.41%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.62%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.79%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which rose 3.14% or 1.55 points to trade at 50.86 at the close. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) added 1.86% or 2.56 points to end at 140.04 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) was up 1.64% or 1.69 points to 104.93 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 1.32% or 3.27 points to trade at 244.90 in late trade. Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) declined 1.19% or 1.03 points to end at 85.86 and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) shed 0.93% or 0.13 points to 13.83.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Concho Resources Inc (NYSE:CXO) which fell 0.28% to 137.40, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was down 0.65% to settle at 16.79 and Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA) which gained 0.11% to close at 45.94.
The worst performers were ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE:CAG) which was up 1.07% to 35.83 in late trade, Brighthouse Financial Inc (NASDAQ:BHF) which lost 0.10% to settle at 40.19 and Scana Corporation (NYSE:SCG) which was up 4.65% to 38.50 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were MagneGas Corp (NASDAQ:MNGA) which rose 51.92% to 0.562, VivoPower International PLC (NASDAQ:VVPR) which was up 61.38% to settle at 2.34 and Leading Brands Inc (NASDAQ:LBIX) which gained 28.07% to close at 1.460.
The worst performers were Arsanis Inc (NASDAQ:ASNS) which was down 78.01% to 4.00 in late trade, China Advanced Construction Materials (NASDAQ:CADC) which lost 29.79% to settle at 4.950 and Differential Brands Group Inc (NASDAQ:DFBG) which was down 26.61% to 4.000 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1800 to 1275 and 117 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1415 rose and 1157 declined, while 119 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.97% to 17.02.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.51% or 6.40 to $1249.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.71% or 0.52 to hit $73.28 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to trade at $77.46 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.10% to 1.1564, while USD/JPY rose 0.24% to 110.52.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 95.04.