U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.35%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Oil & Gas , Basic Materials and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.35% to hit a new 6-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.00%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.60%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ), which rose 6.43% or 10.77 points to trade at 178.27 at the close. Dow Inc (NYSE: DOW ) added 5.80% or 2.53 points to end at 46.12 and American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) was up 3.31% or 3.18 points to 99.33 in late trade.

Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ), which lost 1.69% or 5.30 points to trade at 308.84 in late trade. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ) declined 0.28% or 0.14 points to end at 49.14 and Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ) shed 0.23% or 0.30 points to 131.33.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL ) which rose 10.53% to 13.44, Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL ) which was up 10.17% to settle at 16.14 and United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: UAL ) which gained 9.93% to close at 36.32.

The worst performers were Centene Corp (NYSE: CNC ) which was down 3.51% to 60.28 in late trade, Humana Inc (NYSE: HUM ) which lost 3.03% to settle at 406.08 and Amcor (NYSE: AMCR ) which was down 2.16% to 10.87 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Cancer Genetics Inc (NASDAQ: CGIX ) which rose 115.52% to 6.25, Chanticleer Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: SONN ) which was up 48.29% to settle at 3.9000 and Borqs Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: BRQS ) which gained 39.46% to close at 1.230.

The worst performers were Onconova Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ONTX ) which was down 66.05% to 0.3429 in late trade, Odonate Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ODT ) which lost 45.35% to settle at 18.33 and Hexindai Inc (NASDAQ: HX ) which was down 25.97% to 1.9100 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2138 to 934 and 72 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1496 rose and 1318 declined, while 58 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.75% to 22.37.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.57% or 11.15 to $1935.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.12% or 0.05 to hit $42.39 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.04% or 0.02 to trade at $45.53 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1789, while USD/JPY rose 0.02% to 105.99.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 93.305.