U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.26%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Industrials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.26% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.70%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 2.49%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM), which rose 5.37% or 13.56 points to trade at 265.99 at the close.  Caterpillar  Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 5.12% or 18.19 points to end at 373.31 and  Goldman Sachs Group  Inc (NYSE:GS) was up 3.97% or 19.25 points to 503.83 in late trade.

Biggest losers included  Coca-Cola Co  (NYSE:KO), which lost 1.59% or 1.14 points to trade at 70.61 in late trade. Procter&Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) declined 1.40% or 2.43 points to end at 171.49 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) shed 1.25% or 0.99 points to 78.04.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Darden Restaurants Inc (NYSE:DRI) which rose 8.25% to 172.27, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) which was up 7.36% to settle at 243.92 and  Quanta Services  Inc (NYSE:PWR) which gained 6.54% to close at 289.86.

The worst performers were Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE:DECK) which was down 3.26% to 152.11 in late trade,  Ventas Inc  (NYSE:VTR) which lost 3.13% to settle at 62.20 and Arthur J Gallagher&Co (NYSE:AJG) which was down 3.08% to 282.21 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Banzai International Inc (NASDAQ:BNZI) which rose 4,014.29% to 2.88, Golden Heaven Group Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:GDHG) which was up 3,593.05% to settle at 3.08 and  Garden Stage Ltd  (NASDAQ:GSIW) which gained 248.00% to close at 7.83.

The worst performers were  Haoxi Health Technology  Ltd (NASDAQ:HAO) which was down 73.33% to 0.80 in late trade,  Nuzee  Inc (NASDAQ:NUZE) which lost 32.82% to settle at 0.69 and  Progyny Inc  (NASDAQ:PGNY) which was down 32.63% to 16.47 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2190 to 654 and 64 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2434 rose and 847 declined, while 137 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 10.42% to 16.33.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.52% or 13.60 to $2,612.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.73% or 1.21 to hit $71.09 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 1.58% or 1.16 to trade at $74.81 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.40% to 1.12, while USD/JPY rose 0.21% to 142.57.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 100.35.