Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.22%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.11%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.48%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD), which rose 2.16% or 1.26 points to trade at 59.51 at the close. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 2.06% or 0.92 points to end at 45.53 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 1.93% or 2.38 points to 125.66 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which lost 0.14% or 0.08 points to trade at 57.87 in late trade. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) added 0.20% or 0.19 points to end at 94.60 and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) gained 0.24% or 0.20 points to 82.42.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) which rose 7.87% to 58.78, Garmin Ltd (NASDAQ:GRMN) which was up 4.98% to settle at 46.37 and First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) which gained 4.50% to close at 46.01.
The worst performers were Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was down 4.13% to 10.90 in late trade, Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) which lost 2.05% to settle at 156.450 and Baxalta Inc (NYSE:BXLT) which was down 2.01% to 30.23 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ohr Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP) which rose 62.56% to 3.69, Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ANAC) which was up 55.93% to settle at 131.93 and Remy International Inc (NASDAQ:REMY) which gained 42.43% to close at 29.240.
The worst performers were 6D Global Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SIXD) which was down 39.34% to 7.40 in late trade, Magellan Petroleum Corporation (NASDAQ:MPET) which lost 22.83% to settle at 2.130 and Village Bank and Trust Financial (NASDAQ:VBFC) which was down 18.61% to 19.330 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2372 to 720 and 2 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2031 rose and 760 declined, while 10 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 17.23% to 13.93.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.10% or 1.20 to $1156.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.05% or 0.56 to hit $52.19 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 1.22% or 0.72 to trade at $58.28 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 1.32% to 1.1011, while USD/JPY rose 0.52% to 123.41.
The US Dollar Index was up 1.02% at 96.93.