U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.37%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Services , Technology and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.37% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.51%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.78%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ), which rose 1.98% or 5.64 points to trade at 289.91 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM ) added 1.06% or 1.46 points to end at 139.04 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA ) was up 0.94% or 0.55 points to 58.90 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ), which lost 0.92% or 3.08 points to trade at 329.92 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) declined 0.11% or 0.10 points to end at 91.34 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ) shed 0.07% or 0.10 points to 145.83.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN ) which rose 4.45% to 1868.77, Macy’s Inc (NYSE: M ) which was up 2.61% to settle at 16.54 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ) which gained 1.98% to close at 289.91.

The worst performers were Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY ) which was down 2.89% to 88.78 in late trade, Perrigo Company PLC (NYSE: PRGO ) which lost 1.91% to settle at 52.48 and NRG Energy Inc (NYSE: NRG ) which was down 1.65% to 39.23 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Mereo BioPharma Group PLC ADR (NASDAQ: MREO ) which rose 95.45% to 2.150, Oncolytics Biotech Inc (NASDAQ: ONCY ) which was up 54.10% to settle at 2.820 and Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: TTPH ) which gained 50.00% to close at 3.600.

The worst performers were Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: SBPH ) which was down 66.76% to 1.20 in late trade, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: SPPI ) which lost 60.00% to settle at 3.50 and GreenPro Capital Corp (NASDAQ: GRNQ ) which was down 23.18% to 0.560000 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1743 to 1035 and 105 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1357 rose and 1294 declined, while 71 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.16% to 12.65.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.74% or 11.10 to $1515.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.01% or 0.62 to hit $61.73 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.04% or 0.03 to trade at $67.94 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.00% to 1.1097, while USD/JPY fell 0.06% to 109.56.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 97.170.