Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Services and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Utilities, Telecoms and Technology sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.01%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.16%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.26%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), which rose 1.20% or 1.63 points to trade at 137.07 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 1.16% or 1.55 points to end at 134.99 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) was up 1.06% or 0.56 points to 53.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which lost 2.46% or 1.24 points to trade at 49.24 in late trade. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) declined 1.29% or 1.72 points to end at 131.95 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) shed 0.99% or 1.00 points to 100.30.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) which rose 4.79% to 131.70, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was up 3.96% to settle at 2.890 and Pioneer Natural Resources Co (NYSE:PXD) which gained 3.92% to close at 153.77.
The worst performers were TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) which was down 11.41% to 48.67 in late trade, DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA) which lost 8.55% to settle at 51.76 and Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC) which was down 7.07% to 55.23 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Workhorse Group Inc (NASDAQ:WKHS) which rose 214.54% to 2.6500, Attis Industries Inc (NASDAQ:ATIS) which was up 31.43% to settle at 2.30 and Akorn Inc (NASDAQ:AKRX) which gained 29.58% to close at 4.60.
The worst performers were IZEA Inc (NASDAQ:IZEA) which was down 26.14% to 0.6500 in late trade, Inogen Inc (NASDAQ:INGN) which lost 25.62% to settle at 67.79 and 2U Inc (NASDAQ:TWOU) which was down 25.30% to 44.77 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1584 to 1375 and 116 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1432 fell and 1215 advanced, while 76 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.41% to 19.40 a new 3-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.30% or 3.80 to $1281.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.98% or 0.60 to hit $62.00 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.06% or 0.04 to trade at $70.28 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1194, while USD/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 110.10.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 97.375.