Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Industrials and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.87% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.66%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.65%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were McDonald`s Corporation (N:MCD), which rose 8.12% or 8.33 points to trade at 110.87 at the close. 3M Company (N:MMM) added 4.12% or 6.18 points to end at 156.00 and Boeing Company (N:BA) was up 3.63% or 5.12 points to 146.31 in late trade.
Biggest losers included American Express Company (N:AXP), which lost 5.24% or 4.01 points to trade at 72.50 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (N:UNH) declined 3.64% or 4.30 points to end at 113.81 and Pfizer Inc (N:PFE) shed 0.39% or 0.13 points to 33.33.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were eBay Inc (O:EBAY) which rose 13.92% to 27.58, Citrix Systems Inc (O:CTXS) which was up 12.04% to settle at 80.58 and Texas Instruments Incorporated (O:TXN) which gained 11.93% to close at 58.09.
The worst performers were Tenet Healthcare Corporation (N:THC) which was down 18.87% to 28.24 in late trade, Universal Health Services Inc (N:UHS) which lost 10.95% to settle at 111.73 and AbbVie Inc (N:ABBV) which was down 10.33% to 48.270 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were China Housing & Land Development Inc (O:CHLN) which rose 53.68% to 4.380, SmartPros Ltd (O:SPRO) which was up 38.04% to settle at 3.520 and China Natural Resources Inc (O:CHNR) which gained 27.26% to close at 1.79.
The worst performers were Enanta Pharmaceuticals Inc (O:ENTA) which was down 40.62% to 23.90 in late trade, Reading International B Inc (O:RDIB) which lost 37.39% to settle at 11.150 and Apollo Group Inc (O:APOL) which was down 32.22% to 7.18 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1832 to 705 and 2 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1571 rose and 954 declined, while 47 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 12.87% to 14.55 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.11% or 1.30 to $1165.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.42% or 0.19 to hit $45.39 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.78% or 0.38 to trade at $48.23 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 2.02% to 1.1111, while USD/JPY rose 0.65% to 120.71.
The US Dollar Index was up 1.44% at 96.44.