At the close of the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones rose 2.15%, the S&P 500 rose 2.45% and the NASDAQ Composite rose 2.51%.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated was the top gainer among the components of the Dow Jones index today, up 28.26 points or 6.25% to close at 480.32. Quotes of Chevron Corp rose by 6.21 points (4.19%), closing trading at 154.59. Merck & Company Inc. rose 3.41 points or 4.03% to close at 88.03.

The biggest losers were Walt Disney Company shares, which lost 1.05 points or 1.11% to end the session at 93.29. Home Depot Inc was up 1.53 points (0.57%) to close at 269.20, while Boeing Co was down 0.05 points (0.04%) to close at 136. 75.

Leading gainers among the components of the S&P 500 in today's trading were Tesla Inc, which rose 9.35% to 711.11, Diamondback Energy Inc, which gained 8.17% to close at 132.28, and shares of Pioneer Natural Resources Co, which rose 7.12% to end the session at 237.55.

The drop leaders were DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc, which shed 15.01% to close at 76.05. Shares of Bath & Body Works Inc. lost 9.45% and ended the session at 30.36.

Leading gainers among the components of the NASDAQ Composite in today's trading were Valneva SE ADR, which rose 93.14% to 26.48, G Medical Innovations Holdings Ltd, which gained 45.45% to close at 0.96 , as well as shares of Clovis Oncology Inc, which rose 38.98% to close the session at 1.64.

The biggest losers were Blue Hat Interactive Entertainment, which shed 46.46% to close at 0.62. Shares of 9 Meters Biopharma Inc shed 43.59% to end the session at 0.29. Quotes of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc decreased in price by 33.32% to 13.01.

On the New York Stock Exchange, the number of securities that rose in price (2344) exceeded the number of those that closed in the red (872), while quotations of 107 shares remained virtually unchanged. On the NASDAQ stock exchange, 2,680 companies rose in price, 1,213 fell, and 170 remained at the previous close.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which is based on S&P 500 options trading, fell 3.02% to 30.19.

Gold futures for August delivery lost 0.27% or 5.00 to hit $1.00 a troy ounce. In other commodities, WTI crude for August delivery rose 1.73%, or 1.87, to $109.86 a barrel. Brent oil futures for August delivery rose 0.74%, or 0.85, to $114.98 a barrel.

Meanwhile, in the Forex market, the EUR/USD pair remained unchanged 0.19% to 1.05, while USD/JPY rose 1.14% to hit 136.62.

Futures on the USD index fell 0.03% to 104.23.