Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Consumer Goods and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.54%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.65%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.84%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which rose 1.35% or 1.19 points to trade at 88.98 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 1.10% or 1.02 points to end at 93.41 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) was up 1.00% or 1.02 points to 102.98 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which lost 0.44% or 0.15 points to trade at 34.13 in late trade. EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) declined 0.22% or 0.15 points to end at 66.85 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) 0.00% or 0.00 points to 83.47.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) which rose 5.74% to 32.08, Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which was up 5.58% to settle at 9.65 and Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:FTR) which gained 4.82% to close at 4.33.
The worst performers were Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) which was down 2.38% to 14.33 in late trade, Level 3 Communications Inc (NYSE:LVLT) which lost 2.09% to settle at 47.40 and Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS) which was down 1.87% to 43.51 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Hutchinson Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:HTCH) which rose 166.44% to 3.970, SAExploration Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SAEX) which was up 36.81% to settle at 9.440 and Anavex Life Sciences Corp (NASDAQ:AVXL) which gained 25.67% to close at 3.280.
The worst performers were Great Basin Scientific Inc (NASDAQ:GBSN) which was down 13.16% to 2.9700 in late trade, Leading Brands Inc (NASDAQ:LBIX) which lost 12.72% to settle at 1.990 and Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:NWBO) which was down 12.37% to 0.552 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2587 to 604 and 61 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1797 rose and 697 declined, while 126 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 9.40% to 12.05.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.71% or 9.45 to $1340.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.72% or 0.78 to hit $46.12 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 1.49% or 0.70 to trade at $47.53 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.13% to 1.1205, while USD/JPY rose 0.48% to 100.79.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.13% at 95.34.