Stocks Follow Oil Higher at the Close

Written by Gary

Closing Market Commentary For 01-30-2015

Gary is off , and the market close comes from our syndication partner, Investing.com.

U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Telecommunications and Industrials sectors led shares higher.

At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.14% to hit a new 1-month low, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.30%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.89%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which rose 3.44% or 3.53 points to trade at 106.06 at the close. Meanwhile, Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) added 2.73% or 1.25 points to end at 46.96 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 2.15% or 0.87 points to 41.27 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which fell 0.59% or 0.54 points to trade at 91.71 at the close. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) declined 0.23% or 0.21 points to end at 92.23 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) was down 0.18% or 0.19 points to 104.23.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Denbury Resources Inc (NYSE:DNR) which rose 12.10% to 7.74, First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) which was up 7.47% to settle at 45.48 and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which gained 6.99% to close at 20.52.

The worst performers were Pitney Bowes Inc (NYSE:PBI) which was down 7.17% to 22.26 in late trade, Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which lost 2.96% to settle at 28.40 and Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXN) which was down 2.81% to 178.10 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were PostRock Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:PSTR) which rose 42.85% to 2.200, CollabRx Inc (NASDAQ:CLRX) which was up 38.00% to settle at 1.380 and One Horizon (NASDAQ:OHGI) which gained 30.23% to close at 1.68.

The worst performers were Westmoreland Coal Company (NASDAQ:WLBPZ) which was down 33.36% to 37.820 in late trade, Ardelyx Inc (NASDAQ:ARDX) which lost 28.73% to settle at 19.25 and Transgenomi (NASDAQ:TBIO) which was down 16.57% to 3.12 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2102 to 687; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1759 rose and 1006 declined, while 7 ended unchanged.

Shares in One Horizon (NASDAQ:OHGI) rose to all time lows; up 30.23% or 0.39 to 1.68.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.20% to 19.46.

Gold for April delivery was down 0.30% or 3.80 to $1275.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in March rose 3.16% or 1.52 to hit $49.77 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract rose 3.61% or 1.92 to trade at $54.91 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.43% to 1.1336, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 117.54.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.25% at 94.82.

Other articles at Investing.com:

Wall St. rallies late on Greek deal hopes; energy gains (Reuters)

Oil up in skittish trade; stocks, refinery strike limit gains (Reuters)

Natural gas futures slump to 28-month low despite snowstorm (Investing.com staff)

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Written by Gary