Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Services, Basic Materials and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.51%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.56%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.13%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which rose 5.61% or 9.14 points to trade at 172.17 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 5.32% or 2.85 points to end at 56.44 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was up 4.92% or 5.61 points to 119.70 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which lost 2.33% or 3.31 points to trade at 138.75 in late trade. 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) declined 1.49% or 2.78 points to end at 183.87 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) shed 1.24% or 1.52 points to 120.95.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which rose 11.80% to 41.97, American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) which was up 9.54% to settle at 18.14 and ABIOMED Inc (NASDAQ:ABMD) which gained 9.80% to close at 360.81.
The worst performers were Lumen Technologies Inc (NYSE:LUMN) which was down 21.81% to 12.01 in late trade, Macerich Company (NYSE:MAC) which lost 14.48% to settle at 19.14 and ViacomCBS Inc (NASDAQ:VIAC) which was down 11.61% to 49.50 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Lianluo Smart Ltd (NASDAQ:LLIT) which rose 77.97% to 11.1056, The9 Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:NCTY) which was up 56.63% to settle at 16.070 and Big Rock Partners Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:BRPA) which gained 50.97% to close at 54.41.
The worst performers were Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ:BBBY) which was down 36.34% to 33.67 in late trade, Fossil Group Inc (NASDAQ:FOSL) which lost 36.56% to settle at 15.01 and Genius Brands International Inc (NASDAQ:GNUS) which was down 33.82% to 2.0250 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2178 to 925 and 70 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1761 rose and 1319 declined, while 68 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 23.95% to 28.30.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.25% or 4.60 to $1844.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.93% or 0.49 to hit $52.36 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.74% or 0.41 to trade at $55.12 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.20% to 1.2132, while USD/JPY rose 0.14% to 104.24.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.23% at 90.433.