Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Financials, Telecoms and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.34%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.41%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.37%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 1.89% or 4.53 points to trade at 244.46 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 1.70% or 1.44 points to end at 86.17 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was up 1.46% or 1.08 points to 75.15 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 1.14% or 0.59 points to trade at 51.20 in late trade. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) declined 0.98% or 0.31 points to end at 31.19 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) shed 0.89% or 0.97 points to 108.30.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Universal Health Services Inc (NYSE:UHS) which rose 6.81% to 108.47, Xilinx Inc (NASDAQ:XLNX) which was up 5.99% to settle at 60.13 and Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) which gained 5.64% to close at 71.49.
The worst performers were PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH) which was down 5.92% to 94.10 in late trade, Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) which lost 5.81% to settle at 38.53 and Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) which was down 4.84% to 96.83 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Catalyst Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CBIO) which rose 105.25% to 1.090, Euroseas Ltd (NASDAQ:ESEA) which was up 88.49% to settle at 2.620 and Diana Containerships Inc (NASDAQ:DCIX) which gained 72.78% to close at 3.5592.
The worst performers were Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) which was down 43.41% to 3.905 in late trade, Ocean Rig UDW Inc (NASDAQ:ORIG) which lost 29.64% to settle at 1.59 and Amicus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:FOLD) which was down 17.35% to 4.83 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1724 to 1450 and 71 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1546 rose and 939 declined, while 112 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.12% to 12.91.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 2.79% or 32.45 to $1131.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.08% or 0.04 to hit $51.00 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.41% or 0.22 to trade at $54.12 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 1.18% to 1.0410, while USD/JPY rose 0.95% to 118.14.
The US Dollar Index was up 1.14% at 103.19.