Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Telecoms and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 6.38%, while the S&P 500 index added 6.24%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 5.60%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 13.75% or 21.82 points to trade at 180.55 at the close. Meanwhile, Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) added 10.26% or 7.11 points to end at 76.38 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) was up 10.21% or 4.23 points to 45.67 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which fell 2.30% or 0.70 points to trade at 29.68 at the close. Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 0.38% or 0.42 points to end at 109.82 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was up 2.68% or 4.37 points to 167.35.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which rose 24.16% to 6.68, Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY) which was up 17.15% to settle at 53.48 and Citizens Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CFG) which gained 17.00% to close at 20.72.
The worst performers were Macerich Company (NYSE:MAC) which was down 10.74% to 6.90 in late trade, Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) which lost 10.14% to settle at 5.94 and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) which was down 7.37% to 15.71 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Chanticleer Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BURG) which rose 97.50% to 0.7900, Otelco Inc (NASDAQ:OTEL) which was up 70.36% to settle at 6.15 and Biosig Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:BSGM) which gained 58.40% to close at 6.13.
The worst performers were Capricor Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CAPR) which was down 29.70% to 1.420 in late trade, SWK Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SWKH) which lost 26.92% to settle at 9.5000 and XpresSpa Group Inc (NASDAQ:XSPA) which was down 26.57% to 0.2343 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2495 to 419 and 26 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2209 rose and 493 declined, while 40 ended unchanged.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.61% to 61.00.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.36% or 5.90 to $1639.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 5.43% or 1.33 to hit $23.16 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.41% or 0.11 to trade at $26.96 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 1.1028, while USD/JPY rose 0.10% to 109.69.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 1.44% at 99.542.