Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.27%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 2.43%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 2.45%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which rose 6.23% or 4.55 points to trade at 77.64 at the close. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) added 4.16% or 1.00 points to end at 25.01 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 3.80% or 4.31 points to 117.77 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which added 0.82% or 0.58 points to trade at 71.48 in late trade. 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) added 0.83% or 1.18 points to end at 143.90 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) gained 0.97% or 0.53 points to 54.95.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which rose 28.66% to 10.19, Signet Jewelers Ltd (NYSE:SIG) which was up 14.45% to settle at 138.82 and CONSOL Energy Inc (NYSE:CNX) which gained 13.79% to close at 13.86.
The worst performers were Patterson Companies Inc (NASDAQ:PDCO) which was down 6.30% to 45.94 in late trade, Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) which lost 3.18% to settle at 74.27 and Tiffany & Co (NYSE:TIF) which was down 2.10% to 83.29 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Stereotaxis Inc (NASDAQ:STXS) which rose 124.43% to 1.571, Linn Energy LLC (NASDAQ:LINE) which was up 37.44% to settle at 2.90 and Linn Co LLC (NASDAQ:LNCO) which gained 33.85% to close at 2.610.
The worst performers were Lincoln Educational Services (NASDAQ:LINC) which was down 30.33% to 0.62 in late trade, Dex Media Inc (NASDAQ:DXM) which lost 16.63% to settle at 0.25 and Gordmans Stores Inc (NASDAQ:GMAN) which was down 13.38% to 3.56 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2184 to 280 and 3 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1971 rose and 600 declined, while 6 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 13.69% to 26.17.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.01% or 0.10 to $1124.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 10.82% or 4.17 to hit $42.77 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 10.33% or 4.46 to trade at $47.59 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.58% to 1.1249, while USD/JPY rose 0.86% to 120.95.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.47% at 95.75.