U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.09%

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

At the close in NYSE, the gained 0.09%, while the index gained 0.28%, and the index gained 0.40%.

The best performers of the session on the were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:), which rose 2.78% or 6.59 points to trade at 243.75 at the close. Meanwhile, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:) added 2.38% or 1.30 points to end at 55.95 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:) was up 1.47% or 1.92 points to 132.10 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were International Business Machines (NYSE:), which fell 5.48% or 7.79 points to trade at 134.25 at the close. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:) declined 1.44% or 2.05 points to end at 140.54 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:) was down 1.08% or 0.56 points to 51.88.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Dover Corporation (NYSE:) which rose 5.87% to 101.40, United Rentals Inc (NYSE:) which was up 5.21% to settle at 127.92 and Cardinal Health Inc (NYSE:) which gained 4.44% to close at 51.25.

The worst performers were Textron Inc (NYSE:) which was down 5.53% to 47.79 in late trade, International Business Machines (NYSE:) which lost 5.48% to settle at 134.25 and M&T Bank Corp (NYSE:) which was down 4.42% to 152.10 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Professional Diversity Network Inc (NASDAQ:) which rose 56.19% to 1.6400, ContraVir Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:) which was up 45.90% to settle at 3.5600 and Piedmont Lithium Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:) which gained 38.62% to close at 9.01.

The worst performers were Provident Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 51.06% to 10.82 in late trade, Bionano Genomics Inc (NASDAQ:) which lost 50.18% to settle at 1.37 and Waitr Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 44.43% to 0.62 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1828 to 940 and 124 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1638 rose and 798 declined, while 82 ended unchanged.

Shares in Provident Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:) fell to all time lows; losing 51.06% or 11.29 to 10.82. Shares in Waitr Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:) fell to all time lows; down 44.43% or 0.49 to 0.62.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.80% to 13.79.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.10% or 1.45 to $1495.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.35% or 0.72 to hit $54.08 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.05% or 0.03 to trade at $59.94 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1125, while USD/JPY rose 0.01% to 108.66.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.41% at 97.322.

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