U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.33%

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Basic Materials and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.33%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.84%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 2.69%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 7.54% or 9.85 points to trade at 140.50 at the close. Meanwhile, Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) added 7.00% or 12.33 points to end at 188.40 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) was up 3.99% or 4.73 points to 123.41 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN), which fell 2.03% or 5.14 points to trade at 248.28 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 1.25% or 1.14 points to end at 90.00 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was down 0.32% or 0.56 points to 177.15.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Generac Holdlings Inc (NYSE:GNRC) which rose 10.29% to 268.95, SolarEdge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG) which was up 10.28% to settle at 300.49 and DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:DXCM) which gained 9.86% to close at 311.83.

The worst performers were Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) which was down 5.22% to 45.76 in late trade, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) which lost 5.20% to settle at 14.96 and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which was down 4.28% to 630.70 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were NRX Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:NRXP) which rose 47.48% to 0.84, Repare Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RPTX) which was up 44.80% to settle at 12.67 and Talkspace Inc (NASDAQ:TALK) which gained 34.35% to close at 1.76.

The worst performers were Aeglea Bio Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AGLE) which was down 51.33% to 0.73 in late trade, Immunic Inc (NASDAQ:IMUX) which lost 46.78% to settle at 3.14 and Zosano Pharma Corp (NASDAQ:ZSAN) which was down 43.18% to 1.00 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2463 to 690 and 111 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2884 rose and 924 declined, while 168 ended unchanged.

Shares in Aeglea Bio Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AGLE) fell to all time lows; falling 51.33% or 0.77 to 0.73. Shares in Immunic Inc (NASDAQ:IMUX) fell to 5-year lows; down 46.78% or 2.76 to 3.14. Shares in Zosano Pharma Corp (NASDAQ:ZSAN) fell to all time lows; down 43.18% or 0.76 to 1.00.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.78% to 24.72 a new 1-month low.

Gold Futures for August delivery was up 1.28% or 23.75 to $1,872.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.83% or 2.11 to hit $117.37 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.57% or 1.83 to trade at $118.12 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.95% to 1.07, while USD/JPY fell 0.20% to 129.85.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.73% at 101.78.