Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Utilities, Consumer Services and Telecoms sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.02%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.47%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.66%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 3.81% or 9.12 points to trade at 248.67 at the close. 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) added 2.29% or 2.47 points to end at 110.21 and Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) was up 2.29% or 3.74 points to 167.35 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which lost 1.94% or 5.75 points to trade at 290.79 in late trade. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) declined 1.42% or 2.10 points to end at 145.31 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) shed 1.39% or 1.98 points to 140.15.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) which rose 5.74% to 139.29, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was up 4.95% to settle at 43.00 and Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) which gained 4.56% to close at 107.24.
The worst performers were Lowe’s Companies Inc (NYSE:LOW) which was down 5.56% to 194.31 in late trade, Lumen Technologies Inc (NYSE:LUMN) which lost 5.00% to settle at 3.23 and Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc (NYSE:ARE) which was down 4.59% to 142.91 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Arcadia Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:RKDA) which rose 1,000.00% to 8.60, Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RETA) which was up 198.91% to settle at 93.17 and Cardio Diagnostics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CDIO) which gained 91.30% to close at 6.60.
The worst performers were Performance Shipping Inc (NASDAQ:PSHG) which was down 56.88% to 1.16 in late trade, China Jo-Jo Drugstores Inc (NASDAQ:CJJD) which lost 47.45% to settle at 3.92 and Xometry Inc (NASDAQ:XMTR) which was down 39.49% to 18.40 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1646 to 1395 and 120 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2055 fell and 1578 advanced, while 188 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.58% to 20.58.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.43% or 7.85 to $1,844.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.83% or 0.64 to hit $77.69 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.09% or 0.91 to trade at $84.36 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.87% to 1.07, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 136.18.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.45% at 104.36.