Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Financials, Basic Materials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.62%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.15%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.91%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which rose 7.41% or 5.78 points to trade at 83.81 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 4.54% or 12.61 points to end at 290.61 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) was up 4.53% or 1.90 points to 43.85 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), which lost 0.55% or 0.24 points to trade at 43.70 in late trade. Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) declined 0.23% or 0.29 points to end at 123.42 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shed 0.10% or 0.11 points to 113.81.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) which rose 14.66% to 228.71, Leggett & Platt Incorporated (NYSE:LEG) which was up 9.79% to settle at 27.03 and Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE:COF) which gained 9.62% to close at 59.16.
The worst performers were Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which was down 8.20% to 3.36 in late trade, Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) which lost 3.80% to settle at 205.59 and Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA) which was down 3.45% to 10.36 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Applied DNA Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:APDN) which rose 71.09% to 15.21, Glory Star New Media Group Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:GSMG) which was up 45.79% to settle at 3.56 and Allogene Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ALLO) which gained 35.96% to close at 42.12.
The worst performers were CytomX Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CTMX) which was down 36.08% to 9.23 in late trade, Organovo Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ONVO) which lost 33.87% to settle at 0.5900 and Citius Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CTXR) which was down 25.23% to 0.830 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1596 to 1302 and 58 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1364 fell and 1294 advanced, while 61 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.57% to 32.61.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 1.28% or 22.00 to $1738.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 9.37% or 2.37 to hit $27.66 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.35% or 0.11 to trade at $31.50 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.0806, while USD/JPY rose 0.02% to 107.26.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 100.330.