Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Industrials, Telecoms and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.42% to hit a new 6-month high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.16%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.02%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 2.26% or 4.91 points to trade at 221.75 at the close. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) added 2.25% or 3.06 points to end at 138.93 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was up 1.72% or 3.30 points to 194.91 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which lost 1.25% or 0.50 points to trade at 39.38 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 0.99% or 0.73 points to end at 73.19 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) shed 0.96% or 1.99 points to 205.91.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were United Rentals Inc (NYSE:URI) which rose 8.14% to 136.00, Snap-On Inc (NYSE:SNA) which was up 6.48% to settle at 168.07 and Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) which gained 4.36% to close at 176.66.
The worst performers were Genuine Parts Co (NYSE:GPC) which was down 6.33% to 105.45 in late trade, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which lost 4.90% to settle at 2.910 and Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) which was down 4.36% to 12.49 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Mustang Bio Inc (NASDAQ:MBIO) which rose 112.03% to 5.64, Checkpoint Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CKPT) which was up 20.73% to settle at 3.32 and Novan Inc (NASDAQ:NOVN) which gained 20.46% to close at 0.78.
The worst performers were Kona Grill Inc (NASDAQ:KONA) which was down 44.44% to 0.30 in late trade, StoneCo Ltd (NASDAQ:STNE) which lost 23.69% to settle at 26.51 and Ideal Power Inc (NASDAQ:IPWR) which was down 23.26% to 0.630 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1495 to 1467 and 123 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1348 fell and 1281 advanced, while 91 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.05% to 12.09.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.07% or 0.95 to $1277.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.38% or 0.24 to hit $64.00 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.06% or 0.04 to trade at $71.94 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1233, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 111.97.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.49% at 97.132.