U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.60%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.60%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.73%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.13%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ), which rose 2.62% or 4.81 points to trade at 188.70 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ) added 2.35% or 7.92 points to end at 344.67 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO ) was up 1.88% or 0.90 points to 48.87 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM ), which lost 1.06% or 0.64 points to trade at 59.96 in late trade. Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ) declined 1.03% or 1.20 points to end at 115.25 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ) shed 0.76% or 2.19 points to 287.03.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Macerich Company (NYSE: MAC ) which rose 11.30% to 26.00, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ: AMD ) which was up 5.09% to settle at 52.26 and Loews Corp (NYSE: L ) which gained 4.81% to close at 55.81.

The worst performers were ABIOMED Inc (NASDAQ: ABMD ) which was down 6.86% to 174.08 in late trade, National Oilwell Varco Inc (NYSE: NOV ) which lost 5.38% to settle at 22.88 and Cimarex Energy Co (NYSE: XEC ) which was down 5.22% to 40.82 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were vTv Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: VTVT ) which rose 52.38% to 3.200, Kezar Life Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: KZR ) which was up 34.58% to settle at 5.02 and Co-Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ: CODX ) which gained 32.00% to close at 3.960.

The worst performers were Valeritas Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: VLRX ) which was down 42.91% to 0.3625 in late trade, Technical Communications (NASDAQ: TCCO ) which lost 33.92% to settle at 3.00 and Benitec Biopharma Ltd ADR (NASDAQ: BNTC ) which was down 25.27% to 5.56 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1634 to 1161 and 85 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1517 rose and 1113 declined, while 84 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.78% to 15.04.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.14% or 2.15 to $1575.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 1.37% or 0.69 to hit $49.63 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $53.41 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.0913, while USD/JPY rose 0.02% to 109.77.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.18% at 98.745.