US initial jobless claims for the week ending May 13 fell by 22,000 from the previous week to 242,000. Analysts, in turn, were waiting for the indicator to decrease to 254 thousand. Thus, the decrease in applications may signal a positive direction for the US dollar.

At the close in the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones was up 0.34%, the S&P 500 was up 0.94% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 1.51%.

The leading gainer among the components of the Dow Jones index today was Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which gained 0.81 points or 2.81% to close at 29.68. Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) rose 3.94 points or 1.88% to close at 213.32. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) rose 1.89 points or 1.62% to close at 118.87.

The least gainers were Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which shed 2.55 points or 1.64% to end the session at 152.53. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 5.58 points or 1.15% to close at 479.23, while Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was down 0.76 points ( 0.66%) and finished trading at 114.00.

Among the top performers in the S&P 500 index today were Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (NASDAQ:TTWO), which rose 11.69% to 139.63, Bath & Body Works Inc. (NYSE:BBWI), which gained 10.73% to close at 37.67, and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), which gained 9.22% to close at 371.29.

The least gainers were Lumen Technologies Inc (NYSE:LUMN), which shed 4.92% to close at 2.51. Shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) shed 4.21% to end the session at 154.18. Newmont Goldcorp Corp (NYSE:NEM) was down 3.31% to 43.27.

Leading gainers among the components of the NASDAQ Composite in today's trading were Enveric Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:ENVB), which rose 136.18% to 3.59, AVROBIO Inc (NASDAQ:AVRO), which gained 45.33%. , to close at 0.84, and WANG & LEE GROUP Inc (NASDAQ:WLGS), which edged up 44.70% to close at 1.91.

The least gainers were Aptinyx Inc (NASDAQ:APTX), which shed 39.00% to close at 0.06. Shares of NanoString Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NSTG) shed 29.02% to end the session at 6.04. Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RIGL) was down 28.57% to 1.30.

On the New York Stock Exchange, the number of securities that rose in price (1686) exceeded the number of those that closed in the red (1243), while quotes of 102 shares remained virtually unchanged. On the NASDAQ stock exchange, 1927 companies rose in price, 1617 fell, and 170 remained at the level of the previous close.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which is based on S&P 500 options trading, fell 4.86% to 16.05.

Gold futures for June delivery lost 1.26%, or 24.95, to hit $1.00 a troy ounce. In other commodities, WTI crude for June delivery fell 1.14%, or 0.83, to $72.00 a barrel. Brent futures for July delivery fell 1.22%, or 0.94, to $76.02 a barrel.

Meanwhile, on the Forex market, EUR/USD fell 0.62% to hit 1.08, while USD/JPY edged up 0.72% to hit 138.68.

Futures on the USD index rose 0.65% to 103.39.