Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Utilities and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.00%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.99%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.34%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which rose 1.70% or 2.67 points to trade at 159.62 at the close. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) added 1.69% or 1.69 points to end at 101.47 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was up 1.65% or 1.63 points to 100.36 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which added 0.22% or 0.19 points to trade at 87.44 in late trade. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 0.34% or 0.25 points to end at 72.98 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) gained 0.44% or 0.56 points to 127.86.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) which rose 4.24% to 116.92, Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG) which was up 4.15% to settle at 59.01 and Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) which gained 3.56% to close at 139.50.
The worst performers were ENSCO plc (NYSE:ESV) which was down 5.16% to 22.24 in late trade, Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) which lost 4.83% to settle at 42.74 and Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) which was down 3.39% to 15.69 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Delta Technology Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:DELT) which rose 25.91% to 7.24, Town Sports International Holdings (NASDAQ:CLUB) which was up 21.80% to settle at 3.24 and Rave Restaurant Group Inc (NASDAQ:RAVE) which gained 21.24% to close at 13.470.
The worst performers were Hercules Offshore Inc (NASDAQ:HERO) which was down 62.20% to 0.252 in late trade, AirMedia Group Inc (NASDAQ:AMCN) which lost 23.97% to settle at 3.52 and FreeSeas Inc (NASDAQ:FREE) which was down 22.00% to 0.078 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2352 to 798 and 3 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2015 rose and 801 declined, while 4 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 9.03% to 13.19.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 2.09% or 24.60 to $1201.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.79% or 0.47 to hit $60.80 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.46% or 0.29 to trade at $64.17 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.29% to 1.1370, while USD/JPY fell 0.41% to 122.93.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.28% at 94.21.