Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials, Technology and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Utilities, Basic Materials and Telecoms sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.02% to hit a new 1-month low, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.02%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.50%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which rose 3.86% or 2.38 points to trade at 64.04 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 3.42% or 5.29 points to end at 159.94 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was up 1.21% or 0.76 points to 63.52 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 3.00% or 1.95 points to trade at 63.15 in late trade. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) declined 1.72% or 0.98 points to end at 56.12 and Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) shed 1.18% or 1.57 points to 130.99.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Citizens Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CFG) which rose 6.00% to 23.13, E-TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) which was up 5.84% to settle at 26.65 and Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) which gained 5.32% to close at 10.29.
The worst performers were Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) which was down 8.56% to 35.48 in late trade, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which lost 8.43% to settle at 10.54 and Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) which was down 7.62% to 68.00 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Great Basin Scientific Inc (NASDAQ:GBSN) which rose 110.98% to 3.6500, inContact Inc (NASDAQ:SAAS) which was up 53.50% to settle at 13.83 and xG Technology Inc (NASDAQ:XGTI) which gained 40.62% to close at 0.1125.
The worst performers were American Caresource Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:GNOW) which was down 22.73% to 0.1700 in late trade, Top Image Systems Ltd (NASDAQ:TISA) which lost 21.72% to settle at 1.910 and China Cmrcl (NASDAQ:CCCR) which was down 19.77% to 0.3357 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2175 to 1149 and 29 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1539 rose and 1007 declined, while 68 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.31% to 15.93.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 1.45% or 18.50 to $1258.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.91% or 0.44 to hit $47.87 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 1.52% or 0.75 to trade at $48.53 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.83% to 1.1219, while USD/JPY rose 0.97% to 110.20.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.68% at 95.19.