Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Telecoms sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.65%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.36%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.15%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which rose 0.48% or 0.16 points to trade at 33.56 at the close. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) added 0.36% or 0.90 points to end at 250.85 and Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V) was up 0.35% or 0.68 points to 193.56 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM), which lost 3.26% or 1.57 points to trade at 46.63 in late trade. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) declined 2.65% or 2.49 points to end at 91.54 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) shed 2.64% or 5.23 points to 192.54.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Advance Auto Parts Inc (NYSE:AAP) which rose 4.19% to 148.64, Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ:ATVI) which was up 3.47% to settle at 75.53 and Aon PLC (NYSE:AON) which gained 3.12% to close at 191.93.
The worst performers were H&R Block Inc (NYSE:HRB) which was down 9.48% to 16.32 in late trade, Capri Holdings Ltd (NYSE:CPRI) which lost 8.86% to settle at 16.77 and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) which was down 8.40% to 19.20 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Carver Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:CARV) which rose 248.13% to 8.390, Atlas Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AFH) which was up 187.70% to settle at 1.2000 and Arts-Way Manufacturing Co Inc (NASDAQ:ARTW) which gained 71.24% to close at 3.990.
The worst performers were Chembio Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:CEMI) which was down 60.83% to 3.89 in late trade, Urban One Inc Bats (NASDAQ:UONE) which lost 53.25% to settle at 12.710 and Beasley Broadcast Group Inc (NASDAQ:BBGI) which was down 34.67% to 2.45 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1990 to 879 and 62 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1775 fell and 924 advanced, while 55 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.59% to 33.47.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.06% or 1.10 to $1735.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 1.72% or 0.66 to hit $37.72 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.07% or 0.03 to trade at $40.56 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1246, while USD/JPY fell 0.01% to 106.98.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 97.053.