Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Industrials and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.51%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.45%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.42%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 2.55% or 8.78 points to trade at 352.61 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 2.06% or 2.69 points to end at 132.96 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) was up 1.34% or 1.59 points to 120.27 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which lost 2.38% or 1.03 points to trade at 42.31 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 1.23% or 0.93 points to end at 74.48 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shed 0.64% or 0.67 points to 103.60.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Constellation Brands Inc Class A (NYSE:STZ) which rose 5.96% to 159.93, General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) which was up 5.18% to settle at 8.94 and International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) which gained 4.92% to close at 44.81.
The worst performers were Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) which was down 17.69% to 26.11 in late trade, Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS) which lost 4.81% to settle at 66.54 and L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was down 4.39% to 26.99 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Luokung Technology Corp (NASDAQ:LKCO) which rose 272.71% to 56.130, Borqs Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:BRQS) which was up 55.22% to settle at 5.65 and Organogenesis Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ORGO) which gained 80.75% to close at 148.850.
The worst performers were China SXT Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SXTC) which was down 35.15% to 7.7500 in late trade, Phunware Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN) which lost 28.64% to settle at 157.00 and Interlink Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:LINK) which was down 4.39% to 2.18 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1838 to 1205 and 106 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1362 rose and 1254 declined, while 96 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.40% to 19.50 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.39% or 5.00 to $1287.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.21% or 0.11 to hit $52.47 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $61.45 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.37% to 1.1498, while USD/JPY rose 0.27% to 108.45.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.39% at 95.157.