U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.94%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil & Gas , Industrials and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.94% to hit a new 6-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.95%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.80%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX ), which rose 2.60% or 3.29 points to trade at 130.05 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ) added 2.34% or 3.06 points to end at 133.67 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO ) was up 2.28% or 1.28 points to 57.41 in late trade.

Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ), which lost 0.96% or 2.39 points to trade at 247.80 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) declined 0.91% or 0.78 points to end at 84.58 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ) shed 0.49% or 0.28 points to 57.35.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Pacific Gas & Electric Co (NYSE: PCG ) which rose 14.90% to 23.59, Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL ) which was up 8.22% to settle at 57.01 and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK ) which gained 7.92% to close at 1.975.

The worst performers were Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL ) which was down 7.63% to 48.81 in late trade, Alaska Air Group Inc (NYSE: ALK ) which lost 3.37% to settle at 60.74 and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL ) which was down 3.19% to 32.15 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Stellar Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ: EDSA ) which rose 74.94% to 7.400, Aridis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ARDS ) which was up 47.34% to settle at 10.80 and Arbutus Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ: ABUS ) which gained 37.21% to close at 2.360.

The worst performers were Legacy Reserves Inc (NASDAQ: LGCY ) which was down 32.66% to 0.0532 in late trade, Pintec Technology Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ: PT ) which lost 31.71% to settle at 2.80 and Estre USA Inc Class A (NASDAQ: ESTR ) which was down 27.88% to 1.19 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2187 to 843 and 16 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1450 rose and 1202 declined, while 106 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.93% to 14.75.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 3.22% or 43.40 to $1392.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 5.87% or 3.17 to hit $57.14 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.12% or 0.08 to trade at $64.59 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.00% to 1.1292, while USD/JPY fell 0.00% to 107.28.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.44% at 96.153.