Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Technology and Telecoms sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.21%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.28%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.65%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 2.06% or 4.53 points to trade at 224.95 at the close. Meanwhile, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) added 1.17% or 0.85 points to end at 73.81 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) was up 1.00% or 0.84 points to 84.54 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP), which fell 2.33% or 1.56 points to trade at 65.33 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) declined 0.50% or 1.14 points to end at 227.74 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was down 0.48% or 0.40 points to 82.86.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which rose 3.70% to 406.00, Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC) which was up 2.90% to settle at 17.01 and Alaska Air Group Inc (NYSE:ALK) which gained 2.77% to close at 68.98.
The worst performers were ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE:CAG) which was down 8.54% to 32.98 in late trade, Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) which lost 5.44% to settle at 36.86 and Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) which was down 4.84% to 63.74 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were SSLJ.com Ltd Class A (NASDAQ:SSLJ) which rose 70.25% to 0.8700, Achieve Life Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:ACHV) which was up 39.56% to settle at 3.8100 and Rxi Pharmaceuticals Corp (NASDAQ:RXII) which gained 28.35% to close at 1.6300.
The worst performers were Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) which was down 62.92% to 2.310 in late trade, Sky Solar Holdings Adr Rep 8 (NASDAQ:SKYS) which lost 43.90% to settle at 0.460 and Altimmune Inc (NASDAQ:ALT) which was down 27.62% to 8.780 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1671 to 1346 and 137 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1285 rose and 1276 declined, while 150 ended unchanged.
Shares in ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE:CAG) fell to 52-week lows; falling 8.54% or 3.08 to 32.98. Shares in Sky Solar Holdings Adr Rep 8 (NASDAQ:SKYS) fell to all time lows; falling 43.90% or 0.360 to 0.460.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.57% to 12.43.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 1.00% or 12.00 to $1187.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.77% or 0.55 to hit $72.12 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.59% or 0.48 to trade at $81.27 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.83% to 1.1643, while USD/JPY rose 0.59% to 113.38.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.76% at 94.59.