US Stocks Climb as Tech and Healthcare Sectors Lead Gains
US equities closed higher on Monday, with gains in key sectors driving the market upward. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.18%, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.67% and the NASDAQ Composite added 1.05%. Leading the gains on the Dow were Visa Inc Class A, which surged 2.51% to $369.71, NVIDIA Corporation, up 2.12% to $238.90, and UnitedHealth Group, which increased 1.80% to $378.58.
The biggest losers on the Dow included Merck & Company Inc, which fell 3.30% to $139.54, Salesforce Inc, down 2.09% to $229.79, and Johnson & Johnson, which declined 1.21% to $252.93. On the S&P 500, PTC Inc led the gains with a 33.49% rise to $192.26, while Charles River Laboratories International Inc and Moderna Inc also saw significant increases of 7.09% and 6.95%, respectively.
The NASDAQ Composite saw extreme volatility, with Veea Inc soaring 71.77% to $5.72 and PDS Biotechnology Corp up 60.32% to $1.20. However, Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust Inc plummeted 47.34% to $1.09, and Sono Group NV dropped 39.66% to $1.59.
Commodities also saw mixed movements, with gold for December delivery rising 0.26% to $4,167.80 per troy ounce, while oil prices for November and December contracts fell slightly. The EUR/USD exchange rate remained unchanged at 1.12, and the USD/JPY rose 0.08% to 157.99.