Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Industrials, Oil & Gas and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Healthcare, Technology and Telecoms sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.17%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.17%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.63%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), which rose 4.74% or 6.59 points to trade at 145.61 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) added 1.80% or 0.92 points to end at 51.97 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was up 0.88% or 1.54 points to 177.09 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which lost 2.25% or 2.66 points to trade at 115.59 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 1.75% or 1.08 points to end at 60.87 and EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) shed 1.36% or 0.95 points to 68.67.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AKAM) which rose 14.61% to 67.70, Owens-Illinois Inc (NYSE:OI) which was up 10.76% to settle at 18.83 and Juniper Networks Inc (NYSE:JNPR) which gained 10.29% to close at 26.16.
The worst performers were Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) which was down 17.08% to 94.26 in late trade, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) which lost 9.28% to settle at 368.01 and Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE:LH) which was down 8.64% to 126.45 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OGXI) which rose 48.45% to 0.5500, Legacy Reserves LP (NASDAQ:LGCY) which was up 27.21% to settle at 1.73 and Escalon Medical Corp (NASDAQ:ESMC) which gained 23.08% to close at 0.4800.
The worst performers were Tonix Pharm (NASDAQ:TNXP) which was down 25.04% to 0.465 in late trade, One Horizon (NASDAQ:OHGI) which lost 18.44% to settle at 0.3100 and Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:EKSO) which was down 16.49% to 3.95 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2051 to 1066 and 96 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1628 fell and 817 advanced, while 154 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 6.17% to 14.29.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.51% or 6.45 to $1267.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 1.54% or 0.77 to hit $49.19 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 1.73% or 0.88 to trade at $49.91 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.16% to 1.0906, while USD/JPY rose 0.27% to 104.51.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.08% at 98.61.