Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Utilities and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Telecoms and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.16%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.01%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.21%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 1.46% or 1.19 points to trade at 82.78 at the close. Visa Inc (NYSE:V) added 1.07% or 1.16 points to end at 109.74 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was up 1.00% or 1.39 points to 141.06 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which lost 2.55% or 1.42 points to trade at 54.35 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 1.64% or 1.76 points to end at 105.46 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) shed 1.16% or 0.70 points to 59.72.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA) which rose 13.57% to 69.20, H&R Block Inc (NYSE:HRB) which was up 10.27% to settle at 28.99 and Brown Forman (NYSE:BFb) which gained 6.53% to close at 65.85.
The worst performers were Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE:NFX) which was down 6.94% to 28.44 in late trade, DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) which lost 5.23% to settle at 49.31 and Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) which was down 4.95% to 15.16 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were VistaGen Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VTGN) which rose 93.55% to 1.800, Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MDGL) which was up 88.29% to settle at 87.1800 and ClearSign Combustion Corporation (NASDAQ:CLIR) which gained 34.00% to close at 3.350.
The worst performers were Wins Finance Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:WINS) which was down 35.11% to 53.82 in late trade, Neuralstem Inc (NASDAQ:CUR) which lost 34.95% to settle at 2.0100 and Biocept Inc (NASDAQ:BIOC) which was down 33.04% to 0.770 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1846 to 1254 and 122 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1652 fell and 865 advanced, while 124 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.91% to 11.00.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.12% or 1.50 to $1266.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 2.90% or 1.67 to hit $55.95 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 2.64% or 1.66 to trade at $61.20 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.27% to 1.1793, while USD/JPY fell 0.28% to 112.30.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.29% at 93.54.