Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods sectors led shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.37%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.35%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.14%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which rose 1.25% or 1.41 points to trade at 114.54 at the close. Meanwhile, Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) added 1.12% or 0.55 points to end at 49.47 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) was up 1.04% or 1.21 points to 117.13 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which fell 1.06% or 0.43 points to trade at 40.29 at the close. McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) declined 0.48% or 0.46 points to end at 95.83 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) was down 0.44% or 0.12 points to 27.13.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were CarMax Inc (NYSE:KMX) which rose 9.27% to 74.73, Genworth Financial Inc (NYSE:GNW) which was up 5.87% to settle at 7.76 and Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) which gained 5.16% to close at 24.04.
The worst performers were Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) which was down 6.24% to 62.51 in late trade, Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) which lost 5.75% to settle at 59.80 and Tesoro Corporation (NYSE:TSO) which was down 5.15% to 86.61 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation (NASDAQ:NYMX) which rose 37.63% to 1.730, Response Genetics Inc (NASDAQ:RGDX) which was up 37.04% to settle at 0.370 and Liquid Hlgs (NASDAQ:LIQD) which gained 26.09% to close at 0.290.
The worst performers were Magellan Petroleum Corporation (NASDAQ:MPET) which was down 35.48% to 0.291 in late trade, Perseon Corp (NASDAQ:PRSN) which lost 26.80% to settle at 0.300 and Cytosorbents Crp (NASDAQ:CTSO) which was down 14.52% to 7.71 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2007 to 805; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1642 rose and 1136 declined, while 8 ended unchanged.
Shares in CarMax Inc (NYSE:KMX) rose to all time highs; rising 9.27% or 6.34 to 74.73. Shares in Magellan Petroleum Corporation (NASDAQ:MPET) fell to all time lows; down 35.48% or 0.160 to 0.291.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.91% to 14.67.
Gold for June delivery was down 0.54% or 6.50 to $1201.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.35% or 0.68 to hit $49.41 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 3.50% or 2.00 to trade at $55.10 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.12% to 1.0882, while USD/JPY fell 0.03% to 119.72.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.75% at 97.78.