Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Industrials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Utilities and Consumer Goods sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.58% to hit a new 1-month low, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.17%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.23%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 0.59% or 0.37 points to trade at 62.64 at the close. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) added 0.54% or 0.16 points to end at 30.00 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 0.41% or 0.14 points to 35.91 in late trade.
Biggest losers included International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which lost 4.92% or 8.36 points to trade at 161.69 in late trade. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) declined 1.37% or 1.45 points to end at 104.23 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) shed 0.97% or 0.92 points to 93.47.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) which rose 6.86% to 136.17, Intuitive Surgical Inc (NASDAQ:ISRG) which was up 6.40% to settle at 807.94 and WestRock Co (NYSE:WRK) which gained 4.48% to close at 52.90.
The worst performers were International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) which was down 4.92% to 161.69 in late trade, Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) which lost 4.32% to settle at 15.06 and Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:FTR) which was down 4.12% to 1.86 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Argos Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ARGS) which rose 53.39% to 0.60, Cleveland BioLabs Inc (NASDAQ:CBLI) which was up 45.27% to settle at 5.070 and Soligenix Inc (NASDAQ:SNGX) which gained 43.58% to close at 3.6900.
The worst performers were Sunshine Heart Inc (NASDAQ:SSH) which was down 32.59% to 0.910 in late trade, Monster Digital Inc (NASDAQ:MSDI) which lost 17.70% to settle at 0.79 and Marathon Patent Group Inc (NASDAQ:MARA) which was down 15.94% to 0.539 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1714 to 1497 and 37 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1532 rose and 954 declined, while 133 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 3.26% to 14.89.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.97% or 12.60 to $1281.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 3.53% or 1.85 to hit $50.56 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 3.33% or 1.83 to trade at $53.06 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.15% to 1.0715, while USD/JPY rose 0.35% to 108.81.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.27% at 99.68.