Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Industrials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.14%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.86%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.38%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which rose 2.38% or 4.44 points to trade at 190.70 at the close. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) added 2.15% or 2.39 points to end at 113.78 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was up 2.14% or 1.93 points to 92.02 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which lost 0.65% or 1.02 points to trade at 156.15 in late trade. United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) declined 0.24% or 0.25 points to end at 105.76 and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) gained 0.44% or 0.30 points to 68.94.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which rose 3.37% to 31.93, Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) which was up 3.33% to settle at 135.20 and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) which gained 3.25% to close at 259.79.
The worst performers were Discovery Communications C Inc (NASDAQ:DISCK) which was down 3.46% to 22.90 in late trade, Discovery Inc Class A (NASDAQ:DISCA) which lost 3.01% to settle at 24.78 and Newell Brands Inc (NASDAQ:NWL) which was down 2.70% to 18.40 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were BioXcel Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:BTAI) which rose 80.91% to 4.36, Energous Co (NASDAQ:WATT) which was up 53.71% to settle at 7.04 and Avadel Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ:AVDL) which gained 40.80% to close at 2.45.
The worst performers were Estre USA Inc Class A (NASDAQ:ESTR) which was down 41.62% to 1.08 in late trade, Draper Oakwood Technology Acquisition Inc Class A (NASDAQ:RBZ) which lost 39.60% to settle at 1.80 and Sypris Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SYPR) which was down 27.45% to 0.7052 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1678 to 1385 and 89 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1343 fell and 1293 advanced, while 79 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.48% to 29.96.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.61% or 7.70 to $1277.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 2.08% or 0.97 to hit $45.64 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 2.62% or 1.45 to trade at $53.84 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.75% to 1.1438, while USD/JPY fell 0.28% to 111.06.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.53% at 96.070.