FX.co ★ US stock market closes higher, Dow Jones gains 0.30%

At the close of the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones rose 0.30%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.73%, the NASDAQ Composite index rose 1.01%.

Chevron Corp was the top performer among the components of the Dow Jones index today, up 3.78 points or 2.23% to close at 173.53. Salesforce Inc rose 2.51 points or 1.89% to close at 135.62. Merck & Company Inc rose 1.94 points or 1.78% to close at 110.91.

The least gainers were Amgen Inc, which shed 4.52 points or 1.63% to end the session at 272.26. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated was up 1.40% or 7.64 points to close at 538.22, while McDonald's Corporation was down 0.85% or 2.34 points to close at 274. 28.

Among the S&P 500 index components gainers in today's trading were Moderna Inc, which rose 19.63% to 197.54, Halliburton Company, which gained 7.87% to close at 37.00, and Match Group Inc, which rose 7.67% to end the session at 46.89.

The least gainers were United Airlines Holdings Inc, which shed 6.94% to close at 41.17. Trimble Inc lost 6.38% to end the session at 55.03. Quotes of American Airlines Group decreased in price by 5.21% to 13.46.

Leading gainers among the components of the NASDAQ Composite in today's trading were OpGen Inc, which rose 84.80% to hit 0.23, Vincerx Pharma Inc, which gained 60.93% to close at 1.08, and shares of Netcapital Inc, which rose by 58.27%, ending the session at around 2.20.

Shares of Quotient Ltd became the leaders of the decline, which decreased in price by 50.01%, closing at 0.34. Shares of Argo Blockchain PLC ADR lost 37.21% and ended the session at 0.43. Quotes of Harpoon Therapeutics Inc decreased in price by 36.87% to 0.89.

On the New York Stock Exchange, the number of securities that rose in price (2162) exceeded the number of those that closed in the red (934), while quotes of 113 stocks remained virtually unchanged. On the NASDAQ stock exchange, 2118 companies rose in price, 1630 fell, and 206 remained at the level of the previous close.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which is based on S&P 500 options trading, fell 9.80% to 22.55.

Gold futures for February delivery added 1.65%, or 29.55, to hit $1.00 a troy ounce. In other commodities, WTI crude for January delivery rose 2.95%, or 2.16, to $75.33 a barrel. Futures for Brent crude for February delivery rose 3.33%, or 2.60, to $80.59 a barrel.

Meanwhile, in the Forex market, EUR/USD rose 0.89% to hit 1.06, while USD/JPY shed 1.48% to hit 135.63.

Futures on the USD index fell 1.09% to 103.62.