U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.23%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.23%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.23%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.33%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which rose 5.38% or 3.21 points to trade at 62.85 at the close. Meanwhile, American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 3.53% or 6.37 points to end at 186.98 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 2.58% or 5.58 points to 221.66 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which fell 0.28% or 0.67 points to trade at 237.47 at the close. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) declined 0.25% or 0.13 points to end at 52.36 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) was up 0.08% or 0.12 points to 144.91.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) which rose 9.65% to 57.52, Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) which was up 9.45% to settle at 58.00 and APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) which gained 7.00% to close at 39.43.

The worst performers were SolarEdge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG) which was down 5.85% to 314.60 in late trade, HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ) which lost 3.71% to settle at 34.48 and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which was down 3.19% to 111.69 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Kidpik Corp (NASDAQ:PIK) which rose 158.15% to 4.75, Cuentas Inc (NASDAQ:CUEN) which was up 54.55% to settle at 1.70 and Marrone Bio Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:MBII) which gained 49.70% to close at 1.05.

The worst performers were MDJM Ltd (NASDAQ:MDJH) which was down 25.36% to 2.06 in late trade, Akanda Corp (NASDAQ:AKAN) which lost 19.26% to settle at 8.89 and Apptech Corp (NASDAQ:APCX) which was down 16.00% to 1.05 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2544 to 665 and 81 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2910 rose and 947 declined, while 128 ended unchanged.

Shares in Akanda Corp (NASDAQ:AKAN) fell to all time lows; down 19.26% or 2.12 to 8.89.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.75% to 25.67.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.50% or 28.65 to $1,937.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 8.64% or 8.21 to hit $103.25 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 8.81% or 8.64 to trade at $106.66 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.58% to 1.11, while USD/JPY fell 0.05% to 118.67.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.62% at 98.01.