Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Industrials and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.03% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.21%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.08%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 4.05% or 4.37 points to trade at 112.23 at the close. Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ:HON) added 3.69% or 6.78 points to end at 190.44 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 2.85% or 7.67 points to 276.41 in late trade.
Biggest losers included The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), which lost 2.03% or 3.22 points to trade at 155.74 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 1.41% or 1.29 points to end at 89.94 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 1.17% or 0.47 points to 39.71.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) which rose 9.86% to 104.92, The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) which was up 9.48% to settle at 22.28 and Rollins Inc (NYSE:ROL) which gained 9.08% to close at 38.57.
The worst performers were Stanley Black & Decker Inc (NYSE:SWK) which was down 16.07% to 98.58 in late trade, Cincinnati Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CINF) which lost 13.91% to settle at 97.68 and Baxter International Inc (NYSE:BAX) which was down 10.93% to 59.50 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Athersys Inc (NASDAQ:ATHX) which rose 71.05% to 0.32, SKYX Platforms Corp (NASDAQ:SKYX) which was up 68.59% to settle at 7.03 and Aridis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ARDS) which gained 37.14% to close at 1.92.
The worst performers were Missfresh Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:MF) which was down 42.55% to 0.14 in late trade, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:LXRX) which lost 26.61% to settle at 2.40 and ObsEva SA (NASDAQ:OBSV) which was down 23.74% to 0.30 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2395 to 755 and 131 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2225 rose and 1498 declined, while 273 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.92% to 22.33 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 2.07% or 35.50 to $1,754.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.19% or 0.18 to hit $97.08 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.54% or 0.55 to trade at $102.22 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.09% to 1.02, while USD/JPY fell 1.70% to 134.24.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.25% at 106.06.