Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Goods and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.84%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.42%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 3.68% or 6.93 points to trade at 195.09 at the close. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) added 2.31% or 3.04 points to end at 134.37 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 2.30% or 2.70 points to 120.22 in late trade.
Biggest losers included JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which lost 1.58% or 1.65 points to trade at 102.87 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 1.21% or 1.33 points to end at 108.66 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) shed 0.92% or 3.46 points to 372.70.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE:CAG) which rose 12.75% to 25.82, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) which was up 9.77% to settle at 51.78 and Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which gained 9.62% to close at 43.99.
The worst performers were Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which was down 29.23% to 226.88 in late trade, Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) which lost 4.07% to settle at 54.20 and Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) which was down 3.70% to 25.48 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were SPI Energy Co Ltd (NASDAQ:SPI) which rose 60.92% to 4.20, Phunware Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN) which was up 54.64% to settle at 43.02 and Sorrento Therape (NASDAQ:SRNE) which gained 49.86% to close at 5.23.
The worst performers were Approach Resources Inc (NASDAQ:AREX) which was down 30.15% to 0.5200 in late trade, Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which lost 29.23% to settle at 226.88 and PHI Inc (NASDAQ:PHII) which was down 24.32% to 1.40 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2104 to 888 and 113 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1532 rose and 1107 declined, while 96 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.01% to 13.63.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.54% or 7.05 to $1308.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.58% or 0.35 to hit $59.88 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 1.18% or 0.81 to trade at $67.69 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.36% to 1.1369, while USD/JPY rose 0.12% to 110.81.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.72% at 95.882.