Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Healthcare and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.17%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.21%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.27%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which rose 1.64% or 3.22 points to trade at 199.24 at the close. Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) added 1.32% or 0.64 points to end at 49.25 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 1.13% or 0.50 points to 44.73 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which lost 2.32% or 1.35 points to trade at 56.83 in late trade. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) declined 1.19% or 1.39 points to end at 115.38 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) shed 1.13% or 0.58 points to 50.55.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) which rose 7.16% to 127.00, SBA Communications Corp (NASDAQ:SBAC) which was up 4.34% to settle at 212.61 and Total System Services Inc (NYSE:TSS) which gained 4.02% to close at 123.00.
The worst performers were PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH) which was down 14.87% to 84.49 in late trade, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which lost 4.67% to settle at 2.040 and Perrigo Company PLC (NYSE:PRGO) which was down 4.58% to 43.08 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Organovo Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ONVO) which rose 103.36% to 0.805, Obalon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:OBLN) which was up 39.82% to settle at 1.58 and SilverSun Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SSNT) which gained 34.23% to close at 3.2349.
The worst performers were Destination Maternity Corporation (NASDAQ:DEST) which was down 22.32% to 1.27 in late trade, Zafgen Inc (NASDAQ:ZFGN) which lost 20.08% to settle at 1.91 and Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ:DMRC) which was down 18.32% to 52.91 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1546 to 1437 and 107 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1395 fell and 1244 advanced, while 99 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.35% to 17.30.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.54% or 6.90 to $1287.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 4.08% or 2.40 to hit $56.41 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to trade at $65.09 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.01% to 1.1129, while USD/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 109.60.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 98.080.