Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Technology and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.12%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.50%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 2.28%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 4.63% or 7.97 points to trade at 180.28 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) added 3.74% or 3.90 points to end at 108.13 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 3.11% or 1.15 points to 38.14 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO), which lost 0.79% or 0.50 points to trade at 62.91 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) declined 0.31% or 0.16 points to end at 50.71 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shed 0.18% or 0.91 points to 514.38.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) which rose 8.05% to 172.40, APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) which was up 7.81% to settle at 34.51 and KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) which gained 7.23% to close at 314.17.
The worst performers were Xcel Energy Inc (NASDAQ:XEL) which was down 2.01% to 69.58 in late trade, NiSource Inc (NYSE:NI) which lost 1.96% to settle at 28.50 and Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) which was down 1.93% to 79.46 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were American Rebel Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AREB) which rose 58.62% to 1.19, Kiromic Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:KRBP) which was up 43.46% to settle at 0.55 and AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ACRX) which gained 36.20% to close at 0.35.
The worst performers were Integrated Media Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:IMTE) which was down 53.92% to 2.41 in late trade, DiaMedica Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:DMAC) which lost 37.62% to settle at 1.26 and CytomX Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CTMX) which was down 37.56% to 1.23 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2461 to 701 and 140 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2865 rose and 928 declined, while 244 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.43% to 26.08.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.17% or 2.95 to $1,739.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 3.78% or 3.72 to hit $102.25 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 3.43% or 3.45 to trade at $104.14 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.22% to 1.02, while USD/JPY rose 0.06% to 136.01.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 106.92.