Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Telecoms and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.27%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.28%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.39%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD), which rose 2.56% or 1.70 points to trade at 68.10 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 1.87% or 1.35 points to end at 73.62 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was up 1.52% or 1.71 points to 114.49 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), which lost 0.80% or 0.71 points to trade at 88.53 in late trade. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) declined 0.75% or 0.74 points to end at 97.72 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shed 0.70% or 0.37 points to 52.48.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) which rose 5.71% to 187.36, Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which was up 4.93% to settle at 17.44 and Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE:KORS) which gained 4.30% to close at 47.51.
The worst performers were Signet Jewelers Ltd (NYSE:SIG) which was down 6.58% to 92.23 in late trade, Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc (NYSE:DO) which lost 3.99% to settle at 24.30 and Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) which was down 3.97% to 38.66 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Prism Technologies Group Inc (NASDAQ:PRZM) which rose 53.44% to 0.2900, Eleven Biothera (NASDAQ:EBIO) which was up 34.85% to settle at 1.7800 and Staffing 360 Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:STAF) which gained 26.77% to close at 2.520.
The worst performers were Ocean Power Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:OPTT) which was down 30.96% to 4.170 in late trade, Warren Resources Inc (NASDAQ:WRES) which lost 27.31% to settle at 0.0945 and Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) which was down 26.62% to 15.710 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2110 to 1208 and 31 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1568 rose and 994 declined, while 74 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.01% to 13.63.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.14% or 1.70 to $1213.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.08% or 0.04 to hit $48.97 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.24% or 0.12 to trade at $49.84 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.35% to 1.1150, while USD/JPY fell 0.58% to 108.91.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.16% at 95.57.