Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Financials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Utilities, Telecoms and Oil & Gas sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.15%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.18%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.50%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 2.38% or 5.09 points to trade at 219.22 at the close. Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) added 1.58% or 3.47 points to end at 223.62 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 0.90% or 0.46 points to 51.12 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which lost 2.15% or 0.89 points to trade at 40.44 in late trade. Honeywell International Inc (NYSE:HON) declined 1.83% or 3.93 points to end at 210.24 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) shed 1.63% or 3.75 points to 225.75.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) which rose 4.14% to 1402.17, PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) which was up 3.89% to settle at 230.22 and Estee Lauder Companies Inc (NYSE:EL) which gained 3.29% to close at 258.65.
The worst performers were DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) which was down 11.62% to 31.54 in late trade, Apartment Investment and Management Co (NYSE:AIV) which lost 8.43% to settle at 4.62 and Macerich Company (NYSE:MAC) which was down 5.24% to 11.03 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were NXT-ID Inc (NASDAQ:NXTD) which rose 88.60% to 0.9196, Aethlon Medical Inc (NASDAQ:AEMD) which was up 38.89% to settle at 2.250 and Diginex Ltd (NASDAQ:EQOS) which gained 36.31% to close at 9.76.
The worst performers were vTv Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VTVT) which was down 22.22% to 2.310 in late trade, Mid-Con Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ:MCEP) which lost 21.90% to settle at 3.2800 and BioLineRx Ltd (NASDAQ:BLRX) which was down 21.27% to 2.850 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1651 to 1422 and 95 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1526 fell and 1455 advanced, while 96 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.70% to 22.50.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.63% or 11.75 to $1867.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.38% or 0.18 to hit $47.80 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.49% or 0.25 to trade at $51.01 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.25% to 1.2182, while USD/JPY fell 0.17% to 103.48.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 90.252.