Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Healthcare and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.06% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.08%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.39%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 2.33% or 2.94 points to trade at 128.95 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 2.30% or 2.67 points to end at 118.53 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 2.30% or 1.09 points to 48.72 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which lost 1.02% or 0.30 points to trade at 29.05 in late trade. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 0.34% or 0.30 points to end at 88.74 and McDonald`s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) gained 0.37% or 0.36 points to 97.71.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC) which rose 4.29% to 67.28, Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) which was up 3.95% to settle at 17.91 and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE:RCL) which gained 3.81% to close at 74.45.
The worst performers were Kohl`s Corporation (NYSE:KSS) which was down 13.27% to 64.62 in late trade, ENSCO plc (NYSE:ESV) which lost 4.86% to settle at 26.02 and Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) which was down 4.42% to 17.10 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Vascular Biogenc (NASDAQ:VBLT) which rose 57.84% to 6.44, QKL Stores Inc (NASDAQ:QKLS) which was up 35.37% to settle at 3.100 and Oncothyreon Inc (NASDAQ:ONTY) which gained 36.49% to close at 2.02.
The worst performers were Giga-tronics Incorporated (NASDAQ:GIGA) which was down 25.80% to 2.100 in late trade, Health Insurance Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:HIIQ) which lost 24.39% to settle at 5.860 and One Horizon (NASDAQ:OHGI) which was down 24.33% to 1.99 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2317 to 812 and 2 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1926 rose and 866 declined, while 3 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.34% to 12.75.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.20% or 2.40 to $1220.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 1.31% or 0.80 to hit $59.70 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.83% or 0.56 to trade at $66.71 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.52% to 1.1413, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 119.20.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.36% at 93.40.