U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.61%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.61%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.66%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.60%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM), which rose 2.36% or 3.62 points to trade at 156.90 at the close. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase&Co (NYSE:JPM) added 2.33% or 2.70 points to end at 118.60 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was up 1.46% or 4.82 points to 335.38 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which fell 1.06% or 1.28 points to trade at 119.27 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) declined 0.97% or 1.51 points to end at 154.45 and Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ:HON) was down 0.67% or 1.27 points to 187.82.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which rose 18.85% to 708.85, Freeport-McMoran Copper&Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was up 7.89% to settle at 30.62 and Invesco Plc (NYSE:IVZ) which gained 4.77% to close at 17.36.

The worst performers were McCormick&Company Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) which was down 6.71% to 79.30 in late trade, Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) which lost 3.38% to settle at 36.06 and Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) which was down 2.98% to 47.84 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were ShiftPixy Inc (NASDAQ:PIXY) which rose 176.54% to 31.00, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMLX) which was up 51.01% to settle at 27.03 and Rubius Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RUBY) which gained 48.58% to close at 1.29.

The worst performers were Troika Media Group Inc (NASDAQ:TRKA) which was down 26.83% to 0.48 in late trade, Ensysce Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:ENSC) which lost 17.71% to settle at 0.33 and Biophytis (NASDAQ:BPTS) which was down 17.67% to 0.91 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1761 to 1332 and 132 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2272 rose and 1499 declined, while 247 ended unchanged.

Shares in Ensysce Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:ENSC) fell to all time lows; falling 17.71% or 0.07 to 0.33.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.18% to 23.61.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.47% or 8.15 to $1,719.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.99% or 0.81 to hit $82.75 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.59% or 0.52 to trade at $88.52 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.01% to 1.00, while USD/JPY rose 0.25% to 144.05.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 109.64.