Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Technology and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.05%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.76%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.73%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM), which rose 11.50% or 19.24 points to trade at 186.59 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 3.43% or 0.87 points to end at 26.20 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) was up 2.69% or 5.51 points to 210.06 in late trade.
Biggest losers included JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which lost 1.04% or 1.48 points to trade at 141.07 in late trade. Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) declined 0.61% or 1.45 points to end at 234.74 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) shed 0.47% or 0.86 points to 183.19.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) which rose 11.50% to 186.59, DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:DXCM) which was up 9.46% to settle at 121.24 and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (NASDAQ:TTWO) which gained 6.05% to close at 115.28.
The worst performers were Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) which was down 5.85% to 190.90 in late trade, Principal Financial Group Inc (NASDAQ:PFG) which lost 5.54% to settle at 86.18 and Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) which was down 4.56% to 41.83 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Diversified Healthcare Trust (NASDAQ:DHC) which rose 59.14% to 1.48, Biophytis (NASDAQ:BPTS) which was up 41.09% to settle at 0.59 and Exela Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:XELA) which gained 40.00% to close at 0.07.
The worst performers were ZimVie Inc (NASDAQ:ZIMV) which was down 44.55% to 5.80 in late trade, Caredx Inc (NASDAQ:CDNA) which lost 32.72% to settle at 10.77 and Lucira Health Inc (NASDAQ:LHDX) which was down 29.12% to 0.56 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1699 to 1359 and 109 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1917 rose and 1738 declined, while 180 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.81% to 19.59.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.20% or 3.60 to $1,841.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.28% or 0.22 to hit $77.91 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.19% or 0.16 to trade at $84.47 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.62% to 1.06, while USD/JPY rose 0.42% to 136.73.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.49% at 104.94.