Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Technology and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Utilities, Healthcare and Telecoms sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.04%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.12%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.32%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which rose 2.86% or 1.34 points to trade at 48.19 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 2.16% or 4.23 points to end at 199.80 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) was up 1.58% or 5.82 points to 375.14 in late trade.
Biggest losers included The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), which lost 2.93% or 4.49 points to trade at 148.64 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 1.98% or 1.69 points to end at 83.55 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shed 1.77% or 1.98 points to 109.74.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which rose 13.34% to 37.04, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) which was up 7.30% to settle at 44.10 and Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC) which gained 5.57% to close at 54.25.
The worst performers were General Mills Inc (NYSE:GIS) which was down 4.45% to 51.31 in late trade, NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) which lost 4.11% to settle at 33.70 and JM Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) which was down 3.82% to 115.96 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were XpresSpa Group Inc (NASDAQ:XSPA) which rose 177.06% to 4.710, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB (NASDAQ:OASM) which was up 32.00% to settle at 1.650 and Spherix Inc (NASDAQ:SPEX) which gained 29.96% to close at 2.9500.
The worst performers were Gemphire Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:GEMP) which was down 25.20% to 0.95 in late trade, Cemtrex Inc (NASDAQ:CETX) which lost 20.78% to settle at 1.8300 and Pareteum Corp (NASDAQ:TEUM) which was down 20.32% to 2.000 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1615 to 1403 and 23 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1355 fell and 1320 advanced, while 79 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.43% to 16.21.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.44% or 6.30 to $1412.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 2.37% or 1.37 to hit $59.20 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $65.47 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1371, while USD/JPY fell 0.00% to 107.77.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.08% at 95.720.