Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.82% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.88%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.41%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 2.30% or 2.81 points to trade at 124.91 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 2.07% or 1.46 points to end at 71.84 and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) was up 2.03% or 1.79 points to 89.91 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which lost 1.16% or 1.28 points to trade at 109.50 in late trade. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) declined 0.64% or 1.16 points to end at 181.07 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) shed 0.62% or 0.20 points to 33.09.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Joy Global Inc (NYSE:JOY) which rose 8.44% to 18.51, Columbia Pipeline Group Inc (NYSE:CPGX) which was up 6.64% to settle at 20.25 and Noble Energy Inc (NYSE:NBL) which gained 6.33% to close at 37.27.
The worst performers were eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) which was down 5.96% to 24.15 in late trade, Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS) which lost 5.00% to settle at 79.43 and Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) which was down 2.49% to 37.26 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Wafergen Bi (NASDAQ:WGBS) which rose 47.37% to 2.24, Forbes Energy Services Ltd (NASDAQ:FES) which was up 45.45% to settle at 0.80 and Skystar Bio-Pharmaceutical Company (NASDAQ:SKBI) which gained 42.55% to close at 1.340.
The worst performers were EXACT Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) which was down 22.16% to 7.80 in late trade, Superconductor Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SCON) which lost 21.93% to settle at 0.420 and Ocean Rig UDW Inc (NASDAQ:ORIG) which was down 19.85% to 2.10 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1955 to 566 and 3 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1626 rose and 892 declined, while 63 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.62% to 17.55 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.87% or 10.00 to $1138.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 3.80% or 1.81 to hit $49.62 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 3.79% or 1.95 to trade at $53.27 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.32% to 1.1274, while USD/JPY fell 0.07% to 119.93.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.26% at 95.40.