FX.co ★ US stocks closed higher, Dow Jones up 1.09%

At the close on the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones rose 1.09%, the S&P 500 index rose 1.46%, the NASDAQ Composite index rose 1.67%.

The leading performer among the components of the Dow Jones index today was Home Depot Inc, which gained 9.93 points or 3.16% to close at 324.17. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated rose 13.40 points or 2.76% to close at 499.19. Dow Inc rose 1.40 points or 2.42% to close at 59.35.

The least gainers were Caterpillar Inc, which shed 9.21 points or 3.52% to end the session at 252.29. McDonald's Corporation was up 3.49 points (1.29%) to close at 267.40, while International Business Machines was down 0.57 points (0.42%) to close at 134. 73.

Leading gainers among the S&P 500 components in today's trading were Smith AO Corporation, which rose 13.72% to 67.73, International Paper, which gained 10.66% to close at 41.82, and shares of PulteGroup Inc, which rose 9.42% to end the session at 56.89.

The least gainers were Phillips 66, which shed 5.77% to close at 100.28. Shares of Corning Incorporated shed 4.89% to end the session at 34.61.

The leading gainers among the components of the NASDAQ Composite in today's trading were Motorsport Gaming Us LLC, which rose 713.69% to hit 21.40, Mobile Global Esports Inc, which gained 161.93% to close at 2.58 , as well as shares of Atlas Technical Consultants Inc, which rose 121.76% to close the session at 12.13.

Shares of Sidus Space Inc were the least gainers, losing 53.94% to close at 0.41. Shares of Nuvve Holding Corp lost 40.43% and ended the session at 1.37. Evoke Pharma Inc lost 29.74% to 4.04.

On the New York Stock Exchange, the number of securities that rose in price (2579) exceeded the number of those that closed in the red (477), while quotes of 90 shares remained virtually unchanged. On the NASDAQ stock exchange, 2824 companies rose in price, 865 fell, and 175 remained at the level of the previous close.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which is based on S&P 500 options trading, fell 2.76% to 19.39.

Gold futures for February delivery added 0.27%, or 5.20, to $1.00 a troy ounce. In other commodities, WTI crude for March delivery rose 1.54%, or 1.20, to $79.10 a barrel. Brent oil futures for April delivery rose 1.28%, or 1.08, to $85.58 a barrel.

Meanwhile, in the Forex market, the EUR/USD pair remained unchanged 0.20% to 1.09, while USD/JPY fell 0.23% to hit 130.15.

Futures on the USD index fell 0.19% to 101.89.