Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Technology and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.02%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.29%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.78%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM), which rose 2.57% or 6.60 points to trade at 263.76 at the close. Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 1.95% or 2.91 points to end at 152.00 and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) was up 1.44% or 1.21 points to 85.49 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 2.07% or 7.12 points to trade at 337.39 in late trade. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) declined 1.95% or 0.74 points to end at 37.48 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) shed 1.26% or 1.81 points to 142.09.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which rose 16.79% to 6.19, L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was up 16.27% to settle at 39.08 and Mylan NV (NASDAQ:VTRS) which gained 9.57% to close at 17.74.
The worst performers were Robert Half International Inc (NYSE:RHI) which was down 4.83% to 62.21 in late trade, Estee Lauder Companies Inc (NYSE:EL) which lost 3.85% to settle at 240.69 and Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) which was down 3.41% to 63.71 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Naked Brand Group Ltd (NASDAQ:NAKD) which rose 131.66% to 0.300, Arcimoto Inc (NASDAQ:FUV) which was up 47.99% to settle at 13.970 and AYRO Inc (NASDAQ:AYRO) which gained 39.15% to close at 5.9000.
The worst performers were Ebang International Holdings (NASDAQ:EBON) which was down 26.04% to 5.34 in late trade, Tantech Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:TANH) which lost 21.25% to settle at 2.780 and Xcel Brands Inc (NASDAQ:XELB) which was down 14.53% to 1.000 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1662 to 1236 and 120 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1580 rose and 1176 declined, while 83 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.07% to 22.87.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.58% or 10.95 to $1862.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.19% or 0.08 to hit $42.09 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.09% or 0.04 to trade at $44.38 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.20% to 1.1876, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 103.81.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 92.287.