Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.07%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.19%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.25%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 1.68% or 1.58 points to trade at 95.82 at the close. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) added 0.60% or 0.65 points to end at 109.29 and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) was up 0.58% or 0.48 points to 83.01 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which lost 0.63% or 0.57 points to trade at 89.40 in late trade. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declined 0.52% or 0.19 points to end at 36.03 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 0.52% or 0.33 points to 63.24.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which rose 11.02% to 47.85, Constellation Brands Inc (NYSE:STZ) which was up 6.42% to settle at 171.77 and Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS) which gained 5.53% to close at 39.59.
The worst performers were Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) which was down 2.12% to 135.50 in late trade, Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) which lost 1.47% to settle at 50.95 and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) which was down 1.21% to 898.28 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Cleantech Solutions International Inc (NASDAQ:CLNT) which rose 129.35% to 6.720, HTG Molecular Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:HTGM) which was up 31.64% to settle at 7.240 and Nova Lifestyle I (NASDAQ:NVFY) which gained 27.74% to close at 1.980.
The worst performers were Yulong Eco-Materials Ltd (NASDAQ:YECO) which was down 40.22% to 0.520 in late trade, TOP SHIPS Inc (NASDAQ:TOPS) which lost 23.98% to settle at 0.6500 and Novogen Limited (NASDAQ:NVGN) which was down 20.31% to 1.020 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2363 to 837 and 53 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1730 rose and 747 declined, while 118 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.96% to 12.38.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.45% or 5.60 to $1254.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.06% or 0.54 to hit $51.69 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.88% or 0.48 to trade at $54.84 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.21% to 1.0642, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 110.74.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 100.62.