U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.61% By Investing.com

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 rose 1.61%, while the index added 1.99%, and the index gained 2.68%.

The best performers of the session on the were Boeing Co (NYSE:), which rose 4.65% or 5.67 points to trade at 127.73 at the close. Meanwhile, Nike Inc (NYSE:) added 4.38% or 4.74 points to end at 112.94 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:) was up 3.15% or 9.24 points to 302.81 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:), which fell 1.54% or 1.44 points to trade at 92.31 at the close. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:) declined 0.49% or 0.25 points to end at 50.99 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:) was down 0.09% or 0.16 points to 179.46.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Dollar Tree Inc (NASDAQ:) which rose 21.87% to 162.80, DXC Technology Co (NYSE:) which was up 15.99% to settle at 34.16 and Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:) which gained 13.71% to close at 222.13.

The worst performers were Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:) which was down 6.10% to 37.07 in late trade, Medtronic PLC (NYSE:) which lost 5.78% to settle at 99.44 and Centene Corp (NYSE:) which was down 4.01% to 81.89 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Creatd Inc (NASDAQ:) which rose 58.46% to 1.28, Apyx Medical Inc (NASDAQ:) which was up 51.89% to settle at 5.62 and Scisparc Ltd (NASDAQ:) which gained 41.10% to close at 3.33.

The worst performers were Avadel Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ:) which was down 68.34% to 1.07 in late trade, NRX Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:) which lost 58.19% to settle at 0.58 and OTR Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:) which was down 36.64% to 3.39 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2629 to 553 and 94 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2844 rose and 1004 declined, while 182 ended unchanged.

Shares in Medtronic PLC (NYSE:) fell to 52-week lows; down 5.78% or 6.10 to 99.44. Shares in Avadel Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ:) fell to 5-year lows; losing 68.34% or 2.31 to 1.07. Shares in NRX Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:) fell to all time lows; falling 58.19% or 0.80 to 0.58. Shares in OTR Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:) fell to all time lows; down 36.64% or 1.96 to 3.39.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.07% to 27.50.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.18% or 3.40 to $1,849.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 3.35% or 3.70 to hit $114.03 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 2.78% or 3.09 to trade at $114.21 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.46% to 1.07, while USD/JPY fell 0.20% to 127.06.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.28% at 101.79.