U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.58%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.58%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.79%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.42%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ), which rose 9.33% or 8.42 points to trade at 98.64 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ) added 4.28% or 14.21 points to end at 345.97 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ) was up 3.23% or 4.26 points to 136.28 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ), which lost 0.61% or 0.29 points to trade at 47.17 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS ) declined 0.31% or 0.35 points to end at 112.50 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) shed 0.02% or 0.02 points to 107.64.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ) which rose 9.33% to 98.64, Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC ) which was up 4.64% to settle at 19.41 and Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ) which gained 4.28% to close at 345.97.

The worst performers were Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE: CMG ) which was down 4.40% to 502.76 in late trade, NetApp Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP ) which lost 3.59% to settle at 79.51 and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK ) which was down 3.30% to 4.255 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were JMU Ltd (NASDAQ: JMU ) which rose 46.83% to 1.850, Sphere 3D Corp (NASDAQ: ANY ) which was up 34.38% to settle at 0.311 and SAExploration Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: SAEX ) which gained 28.89% to close at 0.580.

The worst performers were Pain Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: PTIE ) which was down 47.45% to 1.030 in late trade, Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (NASDAQ: HMNY ) which lost 37.50% to settle at 0.030 and ParkerVision Inc (NASDAQ: PRKR ) which was down 32.11% to 0.2600 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2270 to 816 and 29 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1766 rose and 784 declined, while 128 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.51% to 13.54.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.34% or 4.00 to $1181.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.72% or 0.47 to hit $65.48 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.86% or 0.61 to trade at $71.37 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.26% to 1.1376, while USD/JPY rose 0.14% to 110.90.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 96.48.