U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.57%

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Technology and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.57%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.96%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 2.43%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which rose 5.07% or 1.87 points to trade at 38.79 at the close. Meanwhile, Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ:HON) added 4.04% or 7.71 points to end at 198.61 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was up 3.45% or 3.33 points to 99.94 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which fell 0.84% or 1.82 points to trade at 214.37 at the close. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) added 0.04% or 0.02 points to end at 46.56 and Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) was up 0.20% or 0.13 points to 63.68.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Hasbro Inc (NASDAQ:HAS) which rose 14.63% to 58.93, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) which was up 13.93% to settle at 238.56 and Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA) which gained 10.27% to close at 40.27.

The worst performers were Align Technology Inc (NASDAQ:ALGN) which was down 10.39% to 317.73 in late trade, AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) which lost 7.93% to settle at 148.97 and Domino’s Pizza Inc (NYSE:DPZ) which was down 6.48% to 317.07 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were TOP Financial Group Ltd (NASDAQ:TOP) which rose 197.62% to 20.00, Evelo Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:EVLO) which was up 101.10% to settle at 0.20 and Hillstream Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:HILS) which gained 54.59% to close at 1.09.

The worst performers were Baudax Bio Inc (NASDAQ:BXRX) which was down 55.79% to 0.78 in late trade, Impinj Inc (NASDAQ:PI) which lost 39.06% to settle at 82.47 and Appreciate Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SFR) which was down 27.78% to 0.91 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2266 to 675 and 96 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2299 rose and 1283 declined, while 131 ended unchanged.

Shares in Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 13.93% or 29.16 to 238.56. Shares in Baudax Bio Inc (NASDAQ:BXRX) fell to all time lows; falling 55.79% or 0.99 to 0.78.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 9.61% to 17.03.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.06% or 1.25 to $1,997.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.69% or 0.51 to hit $74.81 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.72% or 0.56 to trade at $78.28 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.13% to 1.10, while USD/JPY rose 0.21% to 133.95.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 101.24.