Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Utilities and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.80%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.94%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.89%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM), which rose 2.24% or 1.79 points to trade at 81.72 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 1.96% or 4.50 points to end at 233.71 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) was up 1.77% or 0.82 points to 47.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 0.04% or 0.03 points to trade at 67.92 in late trade. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) added 0.08% or 0.10 points to end at 128.82 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) gained 0.12% or 0.16 points to 131.00.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL) which rose 7.54% to 19.40, Discovery Communications C Inc (NASDAQ:DISCK) which was up 6.92% to settle at 22.57 and Discovery Inc Class A (NASDAQ:DISCA) which gained 6.91% to close at 23.82.
The worst performers were L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was down 7.15% to 31.68 in late trade, TechnipFMC PLC (NYSE:FTI) which lost 5.55% to settle at 31.65 and Booking Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BKNG) which was down 4.74% to 2080.02 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were ARMO Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:ARMO) which rose 67.00% to 49.80, Turtle Beach Corp (NASDAQ:HEAR) which was up 64.55% to settle at 11.420 and Cherokee Inc (NASDAQ:CHKE) which gained 28.77% to close at 0.94.
The worst performers were Amedica Corp (NASDAQ:AMDA) which was down 52.70% to 1.140 in late trade, Integrated Media Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:IMTE) which lost 32.85% to settle at 11.18 and Stellar Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:SBOT) which was down 31.45% to 3.880 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2177 to 886 and 128 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1498 rose and 1050 declined, while 112 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.86% to 13.17 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.63% or 8.30 to $1321.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.35% or 0.25 to hit $71.39 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.30% or 0.23 to trade at $77.44 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.60% to 1.1921, while USD/JPY fell 0.28% to 109.41.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.42% at 92.56.