Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Consumer Services and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Telecoms and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.30%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.50%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.95%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which rose 3.18% or 1.04 points to trade at 33.74 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 1.35% or 1.50 points to end at 113.01 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 1.02% or 0.79 points to 78.12 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which lost 3.56% or 1.51 points to trade at 40.88 in late trade. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) declined 2.26% or 1.01 points to end at 43.71 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) shed 1.85% or 2.23 points to 118.54.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) which rose 11.72% to 156.66, Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) which was up 8.17% to settle at 255.12 and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which gained 6.72% to close at 485.64.
The worst performers were Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) which was down 5.76% to 34.67 in late trade, Comerica Inc (NYSE:CMA) which lost 5.67% to settle at 35.94 and Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FANG) which was down 5.31% to 39.60 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Myos Rens Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MYOS) which rose 175.74% to 2.440, Liminal BioSciences Inc (NASDAQ:LMNL) which was up 111.02% to settle at 22.79 and YRC Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:YRCW) which gained 74.59% to close at 3.230.
The worst performers were Therapix Biosciences Ltd (NASDAQ:TRPX) which was down 48.90% to 0.3170 in late trade, Rosehill Resources Inc Class A (NASDAQ:ROSE) which lost 43.50% to settle at 0.408 and Gevo Inc (NASDAQ:GEVO) which was down 39.43% to 0.480 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1477 to 1394 and 61 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1571 fell and 1135 advanced, while 49 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.95% to 28.62.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 1.17% or 21.10 to $1779.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.15% or 0.45 to hit $39.72 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.10% or 0.04 to trade at $41.99 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1252, while USD/JPY fell 0.00% to 107.45.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.23% at 97.125.