Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Basic Materials, Consumer Services and Telecoms sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.18%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.20%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.01%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which rose 2.05% or 3.04 points to trade at 151.45 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 1.84% or 1.11 points to end at 61.40 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was up 0.40% or 0.40 points to 99.31 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which lost 1.46% or 0.44 points to trade at 29.64 in late trade. EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) declined 1.32% or 0.85 points to end at 63.32 and Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) shed 1.28% or 1.64 points to 126.94.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) which rose 5.79% to 11.14, Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) which was up 4.81% to settle at 8.07 and Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) which gained 4.73% to close at 27.44.
The worst performers were Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) which was down 3.98% to 27.00 in late trade, Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) which lost 3.91% to settle at 76.99 and Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) which was down 3.68% to 87.74 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Genocea Bioscnc (NASDAQ:GNCA) which rose 94.96% to 7.74, Sky Solar Holdings Adr Rep 8 (NASDAQ:SKYS) which was up 83.74% to settle at 2.26 and DragonWave Inc (NASDAQ:DRWI) which gained 43.73% to close at 4.9300.
The worst performers were Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc (NASDAQ:EGLE) which was down 52.00% to 0.360 in late trade, Quantum Fuel Systems Inc (NASDAQ:QTWW) which lost 50.28% to settle at 0.0801 and Net Element International, Inc. (NASDAQ:NETE) which was down 26.85% to 0.3138 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1833 to 1515 and 29 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1323 fell and 1273 advanced, while 61 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 3.61% to 14.05.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.41% or 5.00 to $1233.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.42% or 0.16 to hit $38.16 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.25% or 0.10 to trade at $40.15 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.37% to 1.1380, while USD/JPY rose 0.12% to 112.56.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.18% at 94.62.