Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Financials and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.43%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.31%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.26%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), which rose 3.25% or 1.85 points to trade at 58.86 at the close. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 2.82% or 4.74 points to end at 172.78 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was up 1.67% or 4.01 points to 244.13 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which lost 2.42% or 1.20 points to trade at 48.47 in late trade. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) declined 1.65% or 1.65 points to end at 98.19 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 0.85% or 0.74 points to 86.50.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) which rose 7.77% to 58.80, Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc (NYSE:FBHS) which was up 5.58% to settle at 71.01 and Franklin Resources Inc (NYSE:BEN) which gained 5.52% to close at 26.21.
The worst performers were DuPont Inc (NYSE:DD) which was down 8.62% to 52.72 in late trade, United Rentals Inc (NYSE:URI) which lost 7.01% to settle at 141.58 and United Parcel Service Inc (NYSE:UPS) which was down 6.70% to 108.00 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Datasea Inc (NASDAQ:DTSS) which rose 48.74% to 2.767, Cleveland BioLabs Inc (NASDAQ:CBLI) which was up 41.26% to settle at 3.1500 and SINTX Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SINT) which gained 41.10% to close at 2.060.
The worst performers were Sundial Growers Inc (NASDAQ:SNDL) which was down 41.47% to 1.51 in late trade, TMSR Holding Company Ltd (NASDAQ:TMSR) which lost 15.70% to settle at 1.306 and Amtech Systems Inc (NASDAQ:ASYS) which was down 15.77% to 5.34 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1410 to 1369 and 122 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1505 fell and 1140 advanced, while 64 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.49% to 15.49.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.19% or 2.95 to $1573.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.71% or 0.38 to hit $52.95 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.10% or 0.06 to trade at $58.12 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.05% to 1.1035, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 108.95.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.13% at 97.688.