US stocks higher at close; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.64%

U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Utilities and Telecoms sectors led shares higher. At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.64%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.95%, and the NASDAQ Composite index rose 1.62%. The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM), which rose 3.34% or 5.60 points to trade at 173.05 in the late trade. Meanwhile, Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) added 3.19% or 2.84 points to 92.00 in late trade and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) added 2.94% or 3.08 points to 108.00 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which fell 4.88% or 9.16 points to 178.67 in late trade. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) was down 3.68% or 5.44 points to 142.43 in late trade and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) was down 2.45% or 1.28 points to 51.06 in late trade. The top performers on the S&P 500 were Autodesk Inc (NASDAQ:ADSK), which rose 8.43% to 183.41 in late trade and FactSet Research Systems Inc (NYSE:FDS), which was up 8.01% to 388.76 in late trade. Ceridian HCM Holding Inc (NYSE:CDAY) was up 7.24% to 48.28 in late trade. The worst performers were The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS), which was down 9.57% to 45.24 in late trade. CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE:CF) fell 9.01% to 80.60 in late trade and Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) was down 7.60% to close at 104.53. The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Blue Hat Interactive Entertainment (NASDAQ:BHAT) which was up 263.03% to 2.73 in late trade and FStar Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:FSTX) which was up 59.80% to 6.36 in late trade. TDH Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PETZ) was up 54.74% to 2.94 in late trade. The worst performers were Applied Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:APLT), which fell 28.97% to 0.76 in late trade. Advent Technologies Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ADN) fell 21.91% to 2.53 in late trade and Aeroclean Technologies LLC (NASDAQ:AERC) lost 19.78% to 11.88 in late trade. Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1,875 to 1,306. Also, 104 ended unchanged. Of the 2,420 shares trading on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange, 1,359 were up and 208 were unchanged. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) fell 4.88% or 9.16 to 178.67 in late trade. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) shares fell 2.45% or 1.28 to hit a 52-week low of 51.06. Applied Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:APLT) shares fell 28.97% or 0.31 to hit an all-time low of 0.76. The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures implied volatility for the S&P 500, rose 0.41% to 29.07. Gold Futures for delivery in August fell 0.65% or 12.00 to settle at $1.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities, Crude Oil WTI Futures for delivery in August fell 1.85% or 1.96 to $104.23 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent Oil Futures for August delivery was down 1.58% or 1.77 to $109.97 a barrel. EUR/USD was unchanged 0.41% at 1.05 and USD/JPY was down 0.94% at 134.99. Dollar Index Futures were up 0.17% at 104.16.