U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.96%

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors led shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.96%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.84%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.81%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 2.87% or 9.61 points to trade at 344.59 at the close. Meanwhile, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) added 2.65% or 0.58 points to end at 22.48 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 2.41% or 6.65 points to 282.57 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V), which fell 2.56% or 6.34 points to trade at 241.49 at the close. Johnson&Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) declined 0.13% or 0.21 points to end at 163.78 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was down 0.10% or 0.04 points to 38.67.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) which rose 8.95% to 6.82, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) which was up 5.75% to settle at 17.29 and The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) which gained 4.41% to close at 38.83.

The worst performers were DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:DXCM) which was down 3.49% to 101.55 in late trade, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which lost 2.85% to settle at 400.49 and DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA) which was down 2.71% to 98.39 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Tradeup Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:UPTD) which rose 61.05% to 12.24, PFSweb Inc (NASDAQ:PFSW) which was up 47.90% to settle at 7.41 and Synlogic Inc (NASDAQ:SYBX) which gained 36.27% to close at 0.34.

The worst performers were Sezzle Inc (NASDAQ:SEZL) which was down 81.49% to 15.91 in late trade, Clearmind Medicine Inc (NASDAQ:CMND) which lost 54.24% to settle at 0.18 and BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ:BIOL) which was down 39.57% to 1.97 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2278 to 649 and 64 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2304 rose and 1154 declined, while 156 ended unchanged.

Shares in Clearmind Medicine Inc (NASDAQ:CMND) fell to all time lows; losing 54.24% or 0.22 to 0.18. Shares in BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ:BIOL) fell to all time lows; falling 39.57% or 1.29 to 1.97.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.97% to 12.81 a new 3-years low.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.03% or 0.55 to $1,931.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 2.30% or 2.04 to hit $90.56 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 2.33% or 2.14 to trade at $94.02 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.76% to 1.06, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 147.41.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.54% at 104.96.