Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Utilities sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.01%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.37%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.95%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 2.30% or 2.56 points to trade at 113.72 at the close. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 1.84% or 6.15 points to end at 339.71 and Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) was up 1.77% or 3.70 points to 213.29 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 3.05% or 6.47 points to trade at 205.61 in late trade. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) declined 1.93% or 2.74 points to end at 139.58 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) shed 1.89% or 2.52 points to 131.17.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) which rose 4.26% to 130.15, FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) which was up 3.14% to settle at 232.93 and Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) which gained 3.10% to close at 172.24.
The worst performers were Generac Holdings Inc (NYSE:GNRC) which was down 5.12% to 124.78 in late trade, FactSet Research Systems Inc (NYSE:FDS) which lost 4.53% to settle at 404.15 and Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ:CZR) which was down 4.19% to 46.40 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Aeglea Bio Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AGLE) which rose 328.67% to 0.46, ShiftPixy Inc (NASDAQ:PIXY) which was up 51.52% to settle at 2.00 and Barfresh Food Group Inc (NASDAQ:BRFH) which gained 33.33% to close at 1.40.
The worst performers were Allovir Inc (NASDAQ:ALVR) which was down 35.70% to 3.17 in late trade, Innovative Eyewear Inc (NASDAQ:LUCY) which lost 27.34% to settle at 1.01 and Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust Inc (NASDAQ:WHLR) which was down 24.54% to 0.50 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1944 to 995 and 104 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2171 fell and 1359 advanced, while 145 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.20% to 12.91 a new 3-year low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 1.09% or 21.20 to $1,923.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 4.25% or 3.08 to hit $69.45 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 3.90% or 3.01 to trade at $74.11 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.32% to 1.10, while USD/JPY rose 0.88% to 143.13.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.34% at 102.02.