Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Goods and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.17%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.32%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.06%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 2.33% or 4.88 points to trade at 214.58 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 2.22% or 10.27 points to end at 473.10 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 1.74% or 0.84 points to 49.17 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which lost 2.13% or 0.95 points to trade at 43.69 in late trade. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) declined 1.83% or 1.58 points to end at 84.81 and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) shed 1.53% or 0.64 points to 41.32.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Synopsys Inc (NASDAQ:SNPS) which rose 8.55% to 215.16, L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was up 3.86% to settle at 29.57 and Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) which gained 3.56% to close at 478.48.
The worst performers were Estee Lauder Companies Inc (NYSE:EL) which was down 6.70% to 198.27 in late trade, Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FANG) which lost 6.17% to settle at 40.63 and TJX Companies Inc (NYSE:TJX) which was down 4.99% to 51.65 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Gevo Inc (NASDAQ:GEVO) which rose 232.72% to 1.820, Top Ships Inc (NASDAQ:TOPS) which was up 49.14% to settle at 1.7300 and BBQ Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BBQ) which gained 39.05% to close at 4.70.
The worst performers were Sypris Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SYPR) which was down 31.89% to 1.2600 in late trade, China HGS Real Estate Inc (NASDAQ:HGSH) which lost 26.53% to settle at 0.7200 and Opera Ltd (NASDAQ:OPRA) which was down 24.06% to 7.86 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1865 to 1182 and 96 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1701 fell and 1108 advanced, while 75 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.80% to 22.72.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.76% or 14.95 to $1955.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.84% or 0.36 to hit $42.75 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.04% or 0.02 to trade at $44.86 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1862, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 105.80.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 92.752.