Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Financials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Utilities and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.04%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.38%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.73%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which rose 4.09% or 2.14 points to trade at 54.52 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) added 1.21% or 1.00 points to end at 83.55 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 1.18% or 2.88 points to 246.35 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 2.94% or 11.01 points to trade at 363.93 in late trade. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) declined 1.54% or 0.87 points to end at 55.73 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 1.51% or 0.73 points to 47.46.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Pacific Gas & Electric Co (NYSE:PCG) which rose 10.13% to 23.92, CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL) which was up 6.78% to settle at 11.65 and L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which gained 6.21% to close at 26.34.
The worst performers were ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE:CAG) which was down 12.13% to 25.42 in late trade, Patterson Companies Inc (NASDAQ:PDCO) which lost 4.87% to settle at 23.65 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) which was down 2.94% to 363.93 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were ASV LLC (NASDAQ:ASV) which rose 287.57% to 6.86, Cemtrex Inc (NASDAQ:CETX) which was up 107.65% to settle at 3.8000 and Freds Inc (NASDAQ:FRED) which gained 45.64% to close at 0.54.
The worst performers were XpresSpa Group Inc (NASDAQ:XSPA) which was down 56.48% to 2.050 in late trade, Aclaris Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ACRS) which lost 52.13% to settle at 2.13 and Naked Brand Group Ltd (NASDAQ:NAKD) which was down 33.92% to 0.140 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2151 to 875 and 22 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1991 rose and 690 declined, while 78 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.41% to 15.82.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.18% or 2.50 to $1412.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.19% or 0.11 to hit $59.27 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.11% or 0.07 to trade at $65.46 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.00% to 1.1368, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 107.83.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 95.752.