Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Utilities and Consumer Goods sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.23%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.02%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.11%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 2.19% or 5.23 points to trade at 243.66 at the close. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 1.72% or 1.77 points to end at 104.47 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was up 0.93% or 1.13 points to 123.11 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 2.86% or 10.03 points to trade at 340.98 in late trade. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) declined 2.82% or 0.49 points to end at 16.86 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 1.29% or 0.80 points to 61.23.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) which rose 8.07% to 11.59, Viacom B Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) which was up 6.90% to settle at 34.17 and Wyndham Worldwide Corp (NYSE:WYN) which gained 4.99% to close at 122.97.
The worst performers were Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) which was down 7.02% to 118.03 in late trade, Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) which lost 4.15% to settle at 55.48 and Baker Hughes A Ge Company LLC (NYSE:BHGE) which was down 3.71% to 34.95 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were PhaseRx Inc (NASDAQ:PZRX) which rose 72.03% to 0.50, Iconix Brand Group Inc (NASDAQ:ICON) which was up 34.14% to settle at 1.65 and Spi Energy Co Ltd (NASDAQ:SPI) which gained 32.56% to close at 1.14.
The worst performers were Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:DFFN) which was down 36.71% to 0.7025 in late trade, Apollo Medical Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AMEH) which lost 23.45% to settle at 21.05 and US Gold Corp (NASDAQ:USAU) which was down 20.97% to 2.4499 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2124 to 1015 and 39 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1489 fell and 1042 advanced, while 98 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.02% to 11.67.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.96% or 12.90 to $1326.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.09% or 0.06 to hit $63.91 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.07% or 0.05 to trade at $69.33 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.34% to 1.2228, while USD/JPY fell 0.11% to 111.19.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.28% at 90.40.